Why "Fear God" Doesn't Mean What You Think It Means

The Lord is like a father to his children, tender and compassionate to those who fear him.
Psalm 103:13 NLT

Today is Father's Day, and for the first time I said happy Father's Day to my Heavenly Father. There's a scripture that says He's a father to the fatherless, and that's what makes Him different. If you don't know your earthly father, if the relationship was never what it should have been, if he's passed, or if he just wasn't available to you for whatever reason, you still have a Father. The best Father you could ever have. He does for you everything you'd expect an earthly father to do, but elevated. On a different level.

I read a devotional that walked through what fathers do for their kids at every stage. Baby, child, teenager. They provide. They clothe. They feed. They discipline. They comfort. They play, teach, listen, guide, forgive, empower. It pointed to Matthew 7:9-11, where Jesus asks what father would give his child a stone when they ask for bread, or a snake when they ask for fish. If we, as flawed as we are, know how to give good gifts to our children, how much more will our Father in heaven give good gifts to us.

Here's where it got me. The devotional said a parent's love for their child can only be compared to God's love for us, and even then, it's a mere shadow. I think about that next to the parable of the mustard seed, where Jesus says even a faith that small can move mountains. As much as I love my son, I believe what I feel for him is the mustard seed next to what God feels for him. My love is the seed. His love is the whole tree.

I also want to clear something up while I'm here. Scripture tells us to fear the Lord, and I think that word trips people up. When I read fear, I used to picture being scared, the way you're scared of the dark or scared of getting hurt. That's not it. Fear of the Lord is reverence. It's respect. It's standing in front of something so much bigger than you and finally understanding the size of the room you're in.

The devotional closed with something I needed. If you're feeling loss, if you feel like you've messed up, if you're heartbroken or defeated, God wants to meet you exactly where you are. Sometimes that looks like Him leading you toward life. Sometimes it's mercy. Sometimes it's just the reminder that you are still His child, and He is still available to you.

It also asked us to pray that God would reveal any untruths or half-truths that have kept us from Him, to help us break down the walls we've built, and to restore the kind of trust we had as children. Simple trust. The kind that doesn't ask questions before it reaches for the hand that's holding it.

Peace, Love and Joy always,
Tanya
InfiniteFaithandFavor.com