I think this term "fear of God", which is used in both the Old and New Testaments, has been rather neglected in our society because people think of cowering before a harsh, dictatorial God. We we have a hard time holding in our brains both God's righteous judgment and his complete and perfect love for us at the same time. We'd much rather think about his love and grace because we instinctively know in our hearts (some more subconsciously than others) that we are far from perfect and we really need his forgiveness and love.
David didn't seem to have that problem. He both feared God's righteous judgment and he depended upon it.
First, David knew God so well that his own sinfulness stuck out to him like a sore thumb compared to God's perfect goodness. David said this in Psalm 19:12-13 :
How can I know all the sins lurking in my heart? Cleanse me from these hidden faults. Keep me from deliberate sins! Don't let them control me. Then I will be free of guilt and innocent of great sin.Secondly, God's perfect goodness didn't keep David distant from God. David, like all of us (consciously or subconsciously), desperately wanted for every wrong to be made right. David clung to God because he had been greatly wronged and he knew that God's perfect goodness dictates that every wrong will be made right and every sinful act committed will someday be punished.
I have no doubt in my mind that David knew God well enough that he would rather these people who had wronged him would confess their sins and turn to God for mercy like David repeatedly did, but he didn't see that ever happening, and in the absense of that, he couldn't bear to think that evil/sin would go unpunished. Thinking of evil going unpunished screams against our very being. It's a reflection of God's goodness in all of us.
Psalm 38 shows in stark contrast how David both feared God's righteous judgment and depended upon it to make everything right:
Because of your anger, my whole body is sick; my health is broken because of my sins. My guilt overwhelms me. It is a burden too heavy to bear ... I am on the verge of collapse, facing constant pain. But I confess my sins; I am deeply sorry for what I have done. My enemies are many; they hate me though I have done nothing against them. They repay me evil for good and oppose me because I stand for the right. Do not abandon me, LORD. Do not stand at a distance, my God. Come quickly to help me, O Lord my savior.Here's a story I heard once that explains our misconception of what goodness really means:
A man went before a judge because he had been caught doing something illegal. The man said "Dear Sir, I know that you are a good man, and I'm very sorry that I did this, but I can't pay it, so please let me go". The judge answered "You are right that I am good, but it is precisely because I am good that I can't let this act go unpunished."
The guilty man thought goodness meant the judge wouldn't punish wrongdoing, but the opposite was the truth. The judge's goodness required making the wrong right. In this case, the judge stepped down, took off his robe, pulled out his wallet, and paid the fine for the man because he could tell the man was truly sorry.
Now, we don't (and shouldn't) expect this from human judges. But, according to the Bible, those who fear God, ask Him for forgiveness, and work on pleasing God, do receive this treatment from God. If knowing this doesn't instill in us gratitude and a change of heart, then we probably aren't yet ready to receive God's grace and we'll probably receive only judgment on the final day.
With everything in the Bible, it seems, God always provides a counterpoint to keep us from so easily putting God "into a box". This one comes from 2 Timothy 1:7 :
For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.I'd argue that we must not "fear" God in a cowering way, but that we need to tremble when we think of God's righteous goodness, just as we tremble when we stand at the edge of a cliff. Even though we know we are safe and secure, we tremble to think what could have been if we hadn't approached the cliff with caution.
I'd be interested in hearing your perspective on this topic in the comment section. Just click on the "Comments" link.
