I mentioned in an earlier post that when our children were younger we used to try to read five Psalms and one chapter from Proverbs every day. But this verse, which I must have read many times, did not really catch my eye until a couple of years ago. Since that time, I have found my mind going back to this scripture every once in a while because it still makes me think. Here’s what it says: “The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, that one may turn away from the snares of death.” This verse caught my eye at a time I was reading through the Bible looking for God’s promises. I made note of it as a promise because it said to me, “Here’s something that can help you choose to not sin.” Yet when I looked more closely at the verse, it struck me as odd. I would have thought the way the fear of the Lord worked to keep me from sin would be to make me afraid of the consequences (whether a fear of God’s punishment or a fear of a broken relationship with God.) But the verse says a fear of God keeps me from the snares of death because it is a fountain of life. It has been interesting to think about how this fear could be a fountain of life.
What reasons are there to fear God? Here are some:
- God is omnipotent.
- He created the universe by speaking it into existence (Genesis 1)
- When he speaks, things happen: “Behold, by my rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a desert; their fish stink for lack of water and die of thirst.” (Isaiah 50:2b)
- He has power over governments: “The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the LORD; he turns it wherever he will.” (Proverbs 21:1)
- He has power over us. When Moses told God to send someone else to Pharaoh because fluent speech was not Moses’s gift, God said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the LORD?” (Exodus 4:11)
- God’s glory and holiness are not to be trifled with.
- When Moses asked to see God’s glory, he was told, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name…But…you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live…Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock, and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen.” (Exodus 33:19-23)
- He is not willing for us to live lives that harm his reputation: “Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tried you in the furnace of affliction. For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it, for how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another.” (Isaiah 48:10-11)
- God is our judge.
- He judges impartially: “And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.” (1 Peter 1:17-19)
- All people will be judged: “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.” (Matthew 25:31-32)
He is not a God to be taken lightly. Yet the very same qualities that mean we should not trifle with him can also be a security for us:
- God’s omnipotence benefits us.
- “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28)
- “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good…” (Genesis 50:20)
- God’s glory and holiness are life-giving.
- “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.” (2 Corinthians 3:18)
- “…Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.” (Ephesians 5:25-27)
- Because he is judge, we can be confident that justice will prevail.
- “…for the ways of the LORD are right, and the upright walk in them, but transgressors stumble in them.” (Hosea 14:9b)
- “But the LORD sits enthroned forever; he has established his throne for justice, and he judges the world with righteousness; he judges the peoples with uprightness. The LORD is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble.” (Psalm 9:7-9)
I believe a fear of the Lord is a fountain of life when we see God correctly. His power and holiness mean that there are consequences for the choices we make in life. His love means that the rewards and disciplines of the choices we make are meant to bring us into a closer relationship with him—the source of life. There are other important benefits the Bible tells us come from the fear of the Lord. It is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge (Psalm 111:10, Proverbs1:7, Proverbs 9:10) and in it we have strong confidence and our children a refuge (Prov 14:26). These are benefits I want for my life.