In
the world-renowned song, Amazing Grace, the author penned a parallel phrase
that almost sounds contradictory. He wrote, “’Twas
grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved.”[1] Growing up in a strong friendship with fear, my early experiences
of singing this song left me uncertain what I was singing. How could God’s
grace teach me to fear, and relieve my fears at the same time?
What
I learned along the way is that the first phrase refers to the grace of God leading
us to feel the fear of the Lord that is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge.[2] While John Newton was living in sin, he had no fear or reverence
for God. As God’s grace began working in his heart, and he began feeling the
weight of his sin, he felt a fear of God that humbled him, brought him low, and
gave him hope.
The
second phrase refers to our fears of other things. We have a fear of death, of bullies,
of out of control events. We live in fear of being hurt, rejected, forsaken,
and maligned. Life is tough, and many things scare us, including the monstrous
fear of death. But God’s grace brings us to understand that in Jesus Christ, we
have nothing to fear.[3] The same grace that brings us to fear God, sets us free of every
other fear.[4]
This
morning I realized that much of our planning, or our behavior in stressful
circumstances, exposes what we fear. People are driven as workaholics that are
afraid of living in poverty. People enter abusive relationships because they
are fearful of being alone. From a young age, we learn to play roles that fit
people’s expectations because we are so afraid of what would happen if we were
just ourselves.
On
the other hand, there is a kind of relationship with God in which we can “work out your own salvation with fear and
trembling,” knowing, “it is God who
works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”[5]When we know God is working in us, seeking that which matches his
good pleasure, we can have a reverent fear of God that sets us free from our
fears of people, things, and circumstances. God’s grace teaches us to fear the
Lord in order to relieve us of all other fears.
This constant
conflict between our fear of God, and our fears of people and circumstances,
exposes that we will always submit to whatever we fear the most. When David
visited his brothers and discovered that the whole army of Israel was trembling
with fear at Goliath’s challenge, he viewed the situation as one who feared
God. He was not afraid of Goliath because his fear of God was greater than his
fear of man, no matter how big that man should be. He revered God as God, and
knew that God would enable him to do what God had called him to do.[6]
Over time, I
have discovered that one of the most debilitating fears is our fear of losing
people. People will leave churches because they don’t like the preaching, the
songs, the Bible translation, the programming, and many other likes, interests,
or preferences. This threat of people leaving us can sometimes take on Goliath stature.
What has
become clear over the years is that our fear of losing people must be conquered
by our fear of God, otherwise we will do what people want, or do what our fear
of people demands, rather than uniting to work out our personal obedience to
whatever God is working into us. It is
the reverent fear of God that keeps us working out our salvation with fear and
trembling, seeking to know what God is working in us to will and work for his
good pleasure, no matter whether people are threatening to leave us, or even
take our lives. Many people in our world are faced with that ultimate threat of
death at the hands of terrorists. In the midst of horrific stories of religious
brutality, people are finding that the fear of the Lord sets them free of the
fear of man.
On the other
hand, I have seen ministries crumble as people stop working out their salvation
with fear and trembling because their fear of losing family members and loved
ones was greater than their fear of God. They pull away from seeking God freely
in his word and prayer because if they worked out what God was working in, it
would mean losing people. When the fear of losing someone is greater than our
fear of God, we will always do what people want instead of what God is working
in us to will and to work for his good pleasure.
All of us must
examine our own hearts to settle that we are not denying God’s work in us
because of fear. We cannot refuse to work out whatever God is working in just because
we are afraid of what might happen. Whichever fear determines our actions is
the fear we serve. We can idolize our fears of people and circumstances so much
that we obey their every prompting, while rejecting the promptings of the
Spirit who is moving within us to will and to work according to God’s will.
While any fear
that trumps our fear and reverence for God is an idol, we don’t need to be free
of those fears in order to work out our salvation with fear and trembling.
Instead, with fear and trembling, we can bring even those fears to God, seeking
to work out our salvation in the ways God is working our salvation into us.
While David
set that amazing example of fearless fear of the Lord when he took on Goliath,
his life continued to demonstrate how his fear of God kept him from giving in
to fear of man. In Psalm 27, David started by saying, “The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom
shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?”[7]It was clear that David feared the LORD, not anyone else. He could
say this when Goliath’s gigantic size terrorized Israel’s army, and later on
when other enemies were against him.
David
was very clear when he declared, “Though
an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war arise against
me, yet I will be confident.”[1]
Again, David knew whom he feared, so he was not afraid of anything. Even if
a whole army came against him, he would not be afraid because his confidence
was in the Lord.
However,
even though David was confident in God, and would not cave to fear of others,
he still prayed his heart out about what people were doing to him. This
included praying like this, “Hide not
your face from me. Turn not your servant away in anger, O you who have been my
help. Cast me not off; forsake me not, O God of my salvation!”[8]David would have no hope of standing against his enemies if God was
angry with him, or if God rejected him, so he prayed about how he was feeling.
This
is also the Psalm where David wrote, “For
my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the LORD will take me in.”[9]When David compared his life in relation to who could forsake him,
even when his own parents had forsaken him, he still knew God would take him
in. God was his refuge at all times, even in those most painful of broken
relationships. This is a great comfort where people come to faith in Jesus Christ
and are rejected, and even threatened, by parents and other relatives.
God’s word
tells us that, “The fear of the Lord is
the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.”[10]David learned this at a young age and could defeat Goliath even while his older brothers
were part of the army that had more fear of Goliath than they had faith in God.
John Newton discovered the amazing grace of God that saved a wretch like him,
and in that grace was transformed from a life of fears to a life of fearing the
Lord God of heaven.
Today, God
makes himself known to his people in such a personal way that churches can
sense how God is working in us to will and to work for his good pleasure, and
join together to work out our salvation with fear and trembling, even when
people, things, or circumstances threaten us with every other kind of fear.
“’Twas grace that taught my
heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved.”
©
2015 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8 ~ in2freedom@gmail.com
Unless
otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy
Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway
Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.)
[1]
© Public Domain, John Newton 1779
[2]
Psalm 111:10; Proverbs 1:7; 9:10
[3]
The phrase, “fear not,” is used 34 times in the ESV, indicating God’s repeated
exhortation to have faith instead of fear. https://www.biblegateway.com/quicksearch/?search=fear+not&version=ESV&searchtype=phrase&resultspp=500
[4]
This is true even when God must work in our hearts to transform us from fear of
people, things, and events, to a reverent fear of God.
[5]
Philippians 2:12-13
[6]
I Samuel 17
[7]
Psalm 27:1
[8]
Psalm 27:9
[9]
Psalm 27:10
[10]
Proverbs 9:10
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