“This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit,

and trembles at my word.”

Isaiah 66:2

Really—Fear? Who in the world would choose “fear” as their word for the year? But that is the word that dawned on me as my girlfriends and I began a journey through Kathy Howard’s Before His Throne* Bible study in January.  

So what does fear mean to you? Immediately the mind goes to that unpleasant emotion associated with danger or pain—a real or imagined, unwelcome threat. Zig Ziglar captured the feeling perfectly: “F-E-A-R means Forget-Everything-And-Run!”

But then I find this in my online English Dictionary, almost as an afterthought: “ARCHAIC, a mixed feeling of dread and reverence; awe, wonder, the love and fear of God.” Hmm, dread and reverence. How to separate or blend the two?

I read through the prophets like Jeremiah and am certain I would have been shaking in my boots at God’s warnings. “Straighten up and fly right” comes to mind. That kind of fear (worldly or carnal) is definitely a deterrent, and Israel would straighten up for a bit. But they hadn’t had a change of heart. Pretty soon they would revert to their old ways.

Paul David Tripp, New Morning Mercies January 9, identifies carnal fear as “identity amnesia”: “The people of God…would forget who they were as the children of God and they would forget who God is in all his almighty power and glory.”

Godly fear remembers. Yes, there is that element of dread. How can you not tremble at the realization of who God is and what He has done! But when you turn to Him, and get to know Him, and trust in His holiness and love, an entirely different kind of fear lives in you. Online biblestudytools.com put it this way: “a special nuance of reverential awe or worshipful respect becomes the dominant notion.”

That kind of fear is important to the Lord. As He said, He regards us with esteem (pleasure) when we are humble and contrite (filled with reverential awe or worshipful respect), and trembling at His word. And so I am in pursuit of FEAR this year.

Nancy P

*Before His Throne, Kathy Howard, New Hope Publishers, 2008

All Scripture quotations are from the NIV 1973, 1978, 1984, unless otherwise noted.