5/13/2025 Word Count – 840 Reading Time – 3.75 minutes

I have heard preachers, and other well-meaning Christians explain the fear of the Lord as more of a respect for God than the emotion we normally associate with fear. And while I agree that we absolutely should respect the Lord and that fear of a being engenders a type of respect, I think that often people try to take the edges off of the idea of fearing God by downplaying the fact that God is a fierce warrior. This not only ignores a critical aspect of God’s character but also obfuscates the fact that God and those of us who follow God are still entrenched in a spiritual war that calls us into combat regularly.  

Similarly, I’ve heard Christians stammer and stutter when confronted with the amount of violence depicted in the Old Testament. They seem uncomfortable with a God who fights for what is good and to protect His people. God doesn’t apologize or even attempt to justify His actions. Neither should we. Its God’s world because He created it and all the creatures in it, including us humans. He gets to set the rules, and He gets to say what is good and what is evil. And, He has told us that He hates evil.

He made us with free will and we have the ability to choose to follow Him and abide by His rules, or we can choose not to. All choices come with consequences, sometimes good, sometimes bad. And as the band Rush stated, “If you choose not to choose, you still have made a choice”. So, fence sitting will not exempt anyone from consequences. We are told in Matthew 12:30 that Jesus told His followers, “He that is not with me is against Me, and the one not gathering with Me scatters.”

All the bloodshed and violence depicted in the Old Testament represents the carnage that resulted from the battle against evil that the Lord is waging. God has a plan, and part of that plan involves a strategy to save as many humans as possible from the ravages of evil. Jesus plays a key role in this salvation, and since the lineage of Jesus was very important it was necessary for God to protect the lineage from. Additionally, evil in the Old Testament was out of control. It was insidious and spread like a ravaging cancer. We treat cancer today by chemotherapy and surgery, both of which are invasive, brutal and violent. God was removing the cancer of evil from the planet.

We as Christians could do with a lot less remaking God into the image we are comfortable with, even in the interest of making God a more palatable concept to potential converts. God is immensely hard on His enemies. Although He offers to option for repentance and salvation to everybody up to the time of their death, as long as a person persists in sin without repentance and refuses to acknowledge the power and authority of God that person is in the camp of the enemy and subject to the consequences. God does not delight in violence but will not shy away from it if it is necessary to fulfill His plan.

God is no sissy. In fact, please pardon my crassness, but God is the biggest Badass in existence. We absolutely should fear God for that reason. In fact, if you are an enemy of God, if you are working to disrupt His plan, if you are treating His people unjustly, you should be very afraid. You should fear God with the most startling, gut wrenching, primal screaming, paralyzing fear that vomits forth from the most primitive depths of your soul.

On the other hand, for those who love God and strive to understand and obey His dictates, for those who attempt to confront their sin, repent of it, and desire to stop sinning, the fear of God is more a cautionary reminder of how powerful and mighty God is. If you are in right relationship with God you sometimes may need help remembering the fierce aspect of His character. For Christians, God’s love, ever enduring patience, kindness, and mercy are so overwhelming that it is easy to lose sight of the devastating power He has. More often than not God appears to us as a doting, loving father rather than a magnificent warrior.

Psalm 111:5 says, “He provides food for those who hear Him…”, in Psalm 111: 10 we are told that, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom”, and in Psalm 112: 1, “…blessed is the man who fears the Lord.” These Psalms tell us that if we fear the Lord we will be provided for, our understanding and wisdom will grow, and we will open ourselves to the blessings that only God can provide.

Everyone should fear God. For those who do not believe in God as the creator and ruler of all things, their fear could manifest into dread. But for those who choose to honor God, fear will manifest itself in respect, awe and love.