Psalm 111:10, Isaiah 6:5, Revelation 1:17
Worship That Takes God Seriously
Contemporary worship culture often emphasises the warmth, intimacy, and accessibility of God — and these are genuine biblical truths. God is our Father, our friend, the one who draws near and invites us to come boldly to His throne.
But Scripture also insists on another dimension of God that must shape our worship: His holiness. His otherness. His majesty. His terrifying purity. And the appropriate human response to this aspect of God is the fear of the Lord.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practise it have a good understanding. — Psalm 111:10
Fear of the Lord is not optional or peripheral — it is the beginning. Worship that lacks this dimension is incomplete.
What Is the Fear of the Lord?
The fear of the Lord is not terror — the kind of fear that makes a person run away from God. It is a holy reverence, a deep awe, a solemn recognition of who God is: infinite, holy, all-knowing, all-powerful, the Judge of all the earth.
It is the response of Isaiah in the throne room: "Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips... for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!" (Isaiah 6:5). It is the response of Peter at the miraculous catch of fish: "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord." (Luke 5:8). It is the response of John on Patmos, who fell as though dead at the feet of the risen Christ (Revelation 1:17).
In each case, a genuine encounter with the living God produces awe, humility, and a piercing awareness of one's own unworthiness.
Fear and Love Together
Significantly, the Bible holds the fear of the Lord and the love of God together — they are not opposites. Deuteronomy 10:12 asks Israel to "fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him." Both fear and love are required.
The fear of the Lord is actually the fear of one who is loved. It is the reverence a child has for a father they deeply love and respect — not the terror of a prisoner before a jailer, but the awe of a creature before a Creator who is good beyond imagination and holy beyond comprehension.
How Fear of the Lord Shapes Worship
When the fear of the Lord is present in worship, it produces:
- Thoughtfulness about how we approach God — not casual, flippant, or irreverent
- Serious engagement with Scripture — a desire to know and obey the God we are meeting
- Humility — a recognition that we are not the measure of all things
- Genuine repentance — an honest awareness of our own sin in the light of God's holiness
- Deep, stable joy — because the God we reverence is also the God who loves us completely