Delightful Fear

Delightful Fear

He will delight in the fear of the LORD.

Isaiah 11:3

IN WORD Delight and fear. They seem utterly contradictory. We’re familiar with fear, and it’s anything but delightful. It ties our stomach in knots, raises the hairs on our neck, and keeps us awake at night. We spend long hours turning over every possibility in our mind so we can avoid the most dreadful ones. We position ourselves as far away from fear as we can. And yet the Messiah, we are told, will delight in the fear of the Lord.

We find this concept so difficult to comprehend that we redefine what Scripture means by “fear.” It’s awe or reverence, we assure ourselves, confident that God would never want us to be afraid of Him. We see from a single writer in Hebrews that we are to boldly approach the throne of grace (4:16) and that it’s a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God (10:31). We see from a single disciple that it’s okay to lean on Jesus’ chest in intimate repose (John 13:23), that perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18), and that it’s paralyzing to see Jesus in His glory (Revelation 1:17). The people who saw God most clearly in Scripture were the people who were simultaneously most comfortable and most terrified in His presence. We don’t know how to reconcile that.

Jesus shows us how. He delighted in God’s glory and transcendence. He knew that the reality of God would cause a holy terror of His majesty. We can glimpse this paradox when we stand at the edge of the Grand Canyon or Niagara Falls. They are both beautiful and frightening, yet they are only tiny fractions of God’s magnitude. It is a delightful kind of fear, and Jesus had it.

IN DEED Imagine being assured by the Almighty that you will safely walk a tightrope over a three-thousand-foot gorge. Even with no chance of falling, your heart would race from fear and exhilaration. That’s a small picture of our attitude in God’s presence: thrilling, terrifying, awesome, and very safe. It’s a strange place to be.

Let your times of intimacy with God get you to that place of awe. It will change your life from the inside out.

Men who fear God face life fearlessly. Men who do not fear God end up fearing everything.

—RICHARD HALVERSON