The Terrifying Majesty of the Fear of God
While JFK's quote, "We have nothing to fear but fear itself," highlights the paralyzing nature of fear, the fear of God offers a transformative perspective. It instills a sense of higher accountability, encouraging moral behavior and responsibility. This reverence can lead to wisdom, fostering personal growth and resilience. But it must be understood that this revering occurs at the foot of unbridled fear, our animalistic response to real or imagined threats to our existence. Paranoia, panic, and terror cross the divide to the divine offerings on the other side. It is an existential threat in the most important of senses, that of self-preservation.
This divine fear is not a mere emotion but a reverent shroud that exposes our need to grapple with our deepest anxieties. Ignoring it should send cold shivers down the spine, whether through scripture or a stark awareness of the universe's moral chaos. We’re not discussing the thrills of horror films; we’re delving into a heart-pounding realization of our utter helplessness before the divine.
As Saadi warns, “I fear God, and next to God, I mostly fear those who fear Him not.” The Fear of God is the pinnacle of all fears, a harrowing journey that compels us to look deeper. In Hebrew, yirah (יראה) signifies both 'fear' and 'awe,' embodying a respect that can be as terrifying as it is enlightening. Proverbs 9:10 starkly states, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,” reminding us that true wisdom is born from reverence, not from ignorance.
The world today wants you to conquer fear, to beat it. It is a straw man and we hold a fire to it. This leads many to profess an uncharacterizable delusional sense of self-worth, as if the person has come through the other side of all manners of empirical dreads, and this is not the case for the confident and smug people we now see emerging on social media, simply because we all have access to a device that can record us and transmit our sense of self-aggrandizing worth to everyone, everywhere, instantly.
I shudder when I see brevity in their resilience, where the Fear of God is often seen as a social construct. Today’s world brims with ignorance, a facade of self-confidence that dismisses genuine threats. The authentic Fear of God has been eclipsed by trivial distractions, resulting in a culture that glorifies mediocrity and moral decay. Without the grounding of true wisdom, life becomes a perilous journey filled with distorted values and dread.
“Fear” often denotes a reluctance to confront the truth. We must seek God’s wisdom and embrace His Fear, cultivating a culture of introspection that challenges our comfortable illusions. Amidst the chaos of modernity, the Fear of God offers a path of strength. My anchor is the Biblical fear vis-à-vis wisdom; without it, life is a treacherous maze devoid of spiritual substance.
I stand firm in my fear of God, wrestling with life’s uncertainties and the looming shadows of my own vulnerabilities. We must confront the deeper fears within us, seeking wisdom through the awe of God’s legacy. In this pursuit, we uncover a path forward, revealing the profound rewards that come from grappling with fear—both sacred and secular.