God is to be feared because of what He can do/what He has done/and what He will (yet) do.  He is to be feared, because we simply cannot know what His sovereign will shall turn out to be–even for each one of us individually–while we are in this world.

I confess, that for a long time I do not think I really understood what the Bible (mostly) meant, by the phrase, “The Fear of God,” or, “The Fear of the Lord.” . . . I knew that it was not a carnal, fleshly, slavish “fear” of a deity that would squash myself and other sinners if we did not obey; and who was always angry and perturbed.  I also knew that it had to be more than “respect” or “reverence”–though, clearly, those things are important, too. . . .

 So, I have come to believe that “The Fear of God” is the realization that the one, true, holy, sovereign, powerful, and loving Triune Deity is so inscrutably wise and wonderful–in both “positive” and “negative” ways, that my only reasonable response to Him, is fear.

Think about it this way: should we not fear a God who could create the universe that we behold all around us?  More than this, should we not fear the Sovereign Deity who creates and then casts into hell for eternity beings crafted in His own image–who, of their own volition, choose (very willingly) to hate, despise, reject, scorn, and rebel against Him, His Christ, and His holy law?  Should we not fear the one true God who allows everything that has transpired in the entirety of creation’s history (up to this point), to have happened–including all the horrifically terrible things?  Should this God not be feared?

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