The God we 'fear'

Matthew 10 : 24 - 33

....even the hairs of your head are all numbered....

As we walk through our lives, we are given more and more glimpses of our God, if only we have 'eyes' to see. There is no end to knowing him whom we reverence (godly fear). He is the God who made us in love and who sustains us in mercy and kindness.

I find that we cannot 'understand' these things merely in an abstract way. It is only as we review our personal life stories that we begin to appreciate, in context, what it all means for us. How has God shown his care - that he has even numbered the hairs on my head? Or that he is aware of every sparrow's lifespan? How do the different events and experiences of my life become the ground where the caring ways of God are played out?

If we keep in mind the concrete experiences we have had, they become our 'faith story', and the God who appears in the story becomes all the more real.

There are of course times when we just cannot 'see' God in certain situations. At such times, the 'dark faith' we have is nourished by all the other times when we have seen him; and we continue to trust, even in the darkness.

A God whose care extends to the minute details of life is indeed to be 'feared', to be reverenced and praised. A healthy fear of God is the antidote to the fear of losing all the other things in life that we might cling to. It frees us from pride and self sufficiency, both very subtle traps of the evil one.

"I sought the Lord, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears."

"Fear the Lord, you his saints, for those who fear him lack nothing."

Come, my children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord." (Psalm 34)