The fear of God

If you, O Lord, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness; therefore you are feared. Psalm 130:3-4

Do you find that word “feared” a little strange?

The psalmist has just been rejoicing that “with God there is forgiveness” - which, surely, is very good news. So you would think the next words might be “therefore you are loved - or trusted - or worshipped - or enjoyed...” Take your pick. But “feared”? Why would we fear a God who forgives us?

To be fair, most modern Bible translations don’t have “feared”; they substitute “worshipped” or “revered”. And I’m sure that’s right. The psalmist isn’t talking about a cringing, servile attitude towards God.

But he is talking about a very serious attitude, whereby God takes absolute first place in our lives, and whereby his lordship as well as his love shape and control our attitudes and our behaviour.

Perhaps you can sum it up like this: Forgiveness is certainly a free gift, and something to rejoice in - but it isn’t a freebie.

By “freebie” I mean something we probably accept with a casual wave of the hand - “Great, thanks for that”. And then get on with our lives with barely a further thought. We live in a world awash with freebies - the advertising industry uses them all the time, and the idea of something for nothing is very appealing.

But if ever we Christians start treating God’s forgiveness that way, we have lost all sense of divine authority and of “the beauty of holiness”.

I don’t know, of course, what led the psalmist to write these words. But I’ll make a pretty confident guess: he had woken up to the fact that, having basked in the sunshine of God’s forgiveness, from now on his life could never be the same. Look back for a moment at his story...

He has been in trouble, deep trouble: “Out of the depths I cry to you” (verse 1). The depths! Is he talking about sickness, or family worries, or money troubles? Possibly any of those. But there are some clues pointing us in a different direction.

First, his cry to God is for “mercy” (verse 2), suggesting a sense of guilt and shame. It seems he has something on his conscience, and it won’t let him rest. And then this impression is reinforced by his picture of God up in heaven holding a long, grim list of all his sins and wrong-doings: “If you, O Lord, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand?” (verse 3). Who indeed!

He’s feeling pretty small. 

And it’s then that those beautiful, simple, gospel words come: “But with you there is forgiveness.” From the depths to the heights!

In my years as a hospital chaplain I sometimes met people who had been through grave illness, perhaps even close to death itself. But they had come through, and their sense of relief and gratitude was overwhelming. They used to tell me that, following this experience, their whole attitude towards life was going to be completely different: “I’ll never take a day of life for granted again!... My eyes have been opened to what life is really all about!”

How truly they stuck to these resolutions, of course, I couldn’t stay. But it was moving to sense the deep sincerity with which they spoke. Some experiences in life really do warrant that hackneyed expression “life-changing”.

Well, I reckon that’s how the psalmist felt as he wrote this psalm. How, after all, can anybody receive something as massive and momentous as God’s free, gracious forgiveness - and carry on just as before?

The New Testament is full of the joy of the Lord - people coming face to face with Jesus and being transformed as a result. But this serious side is there too. Writing to the church in Philippi, Paul encourages them to “work out their salvation with...” - with what? Joy? Happiness? Freedom? Excitement? 

I’m sure he would gladly say all those things. But the phrase he actually uses is - wait for it - “fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12). A challenge, surely, about how seriously we take our walk with God. Are we shallow, casual Christians, with trivial habits, aims, tastes and ambitions? Or do we give to God the devotion which is his due?

Here’s a question all of us might put to ourselves: What do I know about the fear of the Lord?

O God, thank you for being a forgiving God. Thank you that in Christ’s cross all my sins are dealt with once for all. May this great knowledge lead me to live my daily life in true fear of you. Amen.