Today's passage from Psalm 111 gives me a chance to dispel a long-held thought by some people as to the word "fear" as used in the bible. I, for one, have always been turned away by those who demand we be afraid of God or else (insert your own version of fire or brimstone). Yes, sometimes when we see the Hebrew word yare used in the Old Testament it does mean fear; but in most cases the word is better represented by the English translation of reverent.
In my opinion living our lives in fear of a God, who is nothing except unconditional love, is how we as a human race have separated ourselves from our God. When you fear something you don't want to be near it. When you fear something you don't want to talk about it. When you fear something you live your life in a way to never be in a situation where that which you fear is confronted.
To be reverent is to be with a deep respect of something. We show reverence for Olympic athletes who train for years on years for that one shot at a gold medal. We show reverence to an elder in our community who has done nothing but build up that community and the people within it. We are reverent when we honor the promises made before God and others to our life partner.
Why, then, can we not be reverent to a God that created us and all things around us? God is not to be feared. God is to be respected. I believe God never intended us to be afraid of God, but rather wants nothing more than to be respected and to share in our lives as often as is possible.
Do me a favor today; read Psalm 111 and every time the word "fear" appears replace it with the word "reverent" or some form of the word (reverence, revere, etc.). Once you have done that honestly answer this question...Would you rather live in a world filled with fear of its Creator, or in reverence?
What a start to my week!
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