I am so very thankful that we serve a God who is full of love, mercy, and patience for mankind. I am very thankful that we have a God who invites us to come near to Him and who has made it possible for us to call Him “Father.” What joy, what comfort we can take from these truths!
But in our reflections upon God’s love and mercy, we must never lose sight of the totality of His nature that He has revealed to us. God is love, and God is also holy. God is full of mercy, and He is also a God who rains down His judgement and wrath when He sees fit.
We must never forget the fear of God. Many of the problems that we see in the church collectively, and in the individual lives of Christians are due to the fact that we have forgotten the fear of God. When we do not have the reverence and awe for Him that He deserves, we can quickly get off track. A lack of fear of the Lord leads to taking His word lightly and disregarding what He has said. A lack of the fear of God leads to carelessly fooling around with sin. It leads to treating our worship assembly as common and unimportant. Afterall, if we see God as harmless and safe—as sort of a kindly old grandfather—why would we take Him all that seriously?
God is not “harmless.” He is not “safe.” He is a terrifying God who takes vengeance on His adversaries. He is a God of judgment. He is a God who consumes His enemies with a furious fire. He will not be trifled with, ignored, scoffed at, or taken lightly.
We must have a healthy fear of God! As the Hebrews writer states, “For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment and THE FURY OF A FIRE WHICH WILL CONSUME THE ADVERSARIES.” (Hebrews 10:26-27 NAS95) And it is said in the same passage, “For we know Him who said, ‘VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY.’ And again, ‘THE LORD WILL JUDGE HIS PEOPLE.’ It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” (Hebrews 10:30-31 NAS95)
Let us maintain a healthy fear of God. And let us forever be thankful for Jesus Christ who saves us from the wrath to come.
—Scott Colvin
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