What does it mean to have reverence for God?
Reverence is not a mood we work up on Sundays; it is what happens to a person who begins to grasp who God actually is. The Bible calls it "the fear of the Lord" — a phrase that raises an immediate question, since Scripture also tells believers not to be afraid.
What Reverence Is
At its root, reverence is a response to greatness. One writer puts the whole matter in terms of how we come to God:
Frank WallaceThis is what is meant by reverence: God is so great that something is required of me in the way I approach Him. It is not to be a careless, casual approach that would treat God as if He were of the same standard as myself. There must be a sense of His greatness and glorious supremacy that would bow my spirit and my heart in wonder and adoration before Him.
Not the Terror of a Slave
Commentators are careful to separate reverence from dread. The two feelings move in opposite directions as a person comes to know God better:
W. W. FeredayThough dread is banished from the believing soul, reverence remains and deepens as God and His Word become more fully known… Along with this there develops an inward horror of sin in every form, and an earnest desire to walk in complete separation from it. "The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil" (Proverbs 8:13). Whoever wallows in sin, whatever his religious profession, has never known our God.
Fear Inside the Family
Reverence is not the opposite of closeness to God — it belongs inside the relationship. Writing on Peter's letter, one commentator describes the fear proper to a child of God:
Arno Clemens GaebeleinThis is not a slavish fear, nor a fear which contains any uncertainty about salvation, a fear that trembles before a holy God, dreading His wrath. It is a godly, a holy fear — a fear that we might not please Him. This holy fear should be a passion to measure up to our calling as children, and not to displease Him.
Confidence Without Casualness
Free access to God is real, but it has a tone. One magazine writer draws the line between boldness and slackness, and locates the failure precisely where most of us would not look for it:
The Bible TreasuryWhile we rejoice in God our Father, let us never forget that our Father is God, and that reverence and godly fear is always our fitting attitude in His presence. It is not spirituality or deeper communion when we hear over-familiar language used in prayer or praise… Holy confidence and freedom of access do not mean familiarity, which may gradually turn into levity.
The same lesson was taught to Moses at the burning bush, when he was told to take off his sandals because the ground was holy. As one writer notes, God did not send him away:
J. G. BellettNeither Moses nor Joshua was required to withdraw — only to tread softly. They were welcomed and encouraged, while being taught the holiness of such intimacy.
Where Wisdom Starts
Scripture ties the fear of the Lord to wisdom, and the claim is stronger than it sounds. Without it, a person may be highly educated and still be missing the first lesson:
A. J. PollockA man may be counted wise in the learning of the schools, or in diplomacy, or in military strategy, but if he does not have the fear of the Lord, he has no true wisdom. He is out of touch with what really matters. He has not adjusted himself to God. He is building on sand and not on the rock.
What It Does to a Life
Reverence shows up in decisions. Joseph, sold by his brothers and later ruling Egypt, is offered as the pattern of a life run on this principle:
Hamilton SmithNature leaves God out and thinks only of self-vindication, self-gratification, or self-exaltation. Faith thinks of God, and of what is pleasing and due to God… In the day of his temptation he was kept from the path of evil by the fear of God, for he could say, "How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?" In the day of his exaltation he was kept from taking vengeance on his brothers by the fear of God.
It also settles a person's nerve before other people:
William KellyThe holy fear of God shuts out every dishonouring fear of man, and all tormenting fear of God.
Summary
- Greatness — Reverence starts with the size of God. He is so great that a casual approach, treating Him as our equal, is already wrong.
- Not dread — As God becomes better known, terror goes and reverence grows. It is not a slave's fear of wrath, but a child's fear of displeasing his Father.
- Not distance — Moses was told to take off his sandals, not to leave. Welcome and holiness were taught together; access without carelessness.
- Wisdom — Learning, strategy and skill without the fear of the Lord leave a man building on sand. This fear is the first letter of the alphabet of wisdom.
- Governed life — Joseph shows the result: kept from sin when tempted, kept from revenge when powerful. The fear of God also drives out the fear of man.