What or Who Do We Fear Most?

Proverbs 9:10; Exodus 33: 12 – 23; John 14:27; Romans 3:18
 
What do we consciously fear most in life? Mental illness? Cancer? Or Death? Perhaps, if we were honest, we may discover that like most sentient beings, our greatest trepidation has to do with man. How others view and treat us govern a large portion of our motivation in life, whether consciously or otherwise. Despite our addiction to what we can control, unmanageable circumstances and people will eventually test and conceivably frustrate our carefully engineered strategies. However, despite these constant challenges, we continue to persevere at self-preservation, sidelining the One who is both omniscient and omnipotent in our affairs. In fact, our Creator is frequently used as a talisman of good fortune and an insurance against unfortunate incidents, with some possessing the audacity to blame Him for their deleterious situation. It is ironic that generally we fear God less than we do man. But what makes God fearsome? What does the ‘fear of God’ really mean? The Hebrew word yirah (viz., fear, in English) postulates a positive quality that acknowledges God's good intentions. It constitutes a reverence to God or a response of wonder to God as the Creator and Redeemer. The "fear of the Lord" can range from a feeling of awe, amazement, mystery, gratitude, and it includes a feeling of dread at the thought of God's disapproval of sin. 
 
Perhaps Moses’ experience of Yahweh could enlighten us. Without doubt, his devoted obedience to God formed the basis for his friendship that began with the incident at the burning bush on Mount Horeb (Ex 3:1-9). Following which he witnessed the entirety of God’s almighty acts on behalf of His people in Egypt, and then in the Sinai, but he never saw the uncovered glory of God despite their recurring ’face-to-face’ meetings (Ex 33:11). On an occasion, as he interceded for God’s recalcitrant people, we have a highly unusual exchange between a fallible man and the eternal God. Apparently for Moses, perceiving God’s noteworthy supernatural acts could not make up for seeing God Himself in all His glory! His 40 years’ walk with God would have profoundly instilled in him a fear of his God (c.f., Prov 9:10), but he naturally desired to put a face to Yahweh’s Name despite the latter’s cautiously managed hiddenness from the sight of man. Moses knew that he was courting death by his impossible request. But God did not chide him for his daring aspiration, and because of their shared relationship over His people, He made it possible for Moses to see an unusual angle of Himself (Ex 33: 19-23), thus preserving his life. 
 
Without exception, instant death is the outcome for anyone who saw God in all His glory (Ex 33:20), for His glorious holy presence expresses His limitless Personhood that encompasses the expressed timelessness of the entirety of all creation. We have no concept of what we would be looking at or for, in a Person who is infinity and eternity Himself, with eternal immutability as His fundamental quintessence. Timothy described His presence as being cloaked in unapproachable light, but the earthly metaphor belies the fact that He is not only the Light Himself but pure moral goodness too (1 Tim 6:16; c.f., 1 John 1:5; Rev 21:23). Can we ever fully grasp with our finite minds this God Whom we worship? As we meditate, perhaps an imaginative mental picture of His glory is sufficient to instill awe and fear in us (c.f., Deut 10:17; Ps 8:3-4; Ps 147:5; Isa 40:28; Isa 55:8-9), while we wait patiently for the day when we will be able to see Him ‘face-to-face’ (Rev 22:4); perhaps in Christ Himself! 
 
That restricted mental image was Yahweh’s revelation of Himself to Moses; a disclosure at a finite level that does not threaten Moses’ very existence as he related with the Alpha and the Omega (c.f., John 1:14; John 8:58). When God masked His infinite consuming glory from sinful man, we can be presumptuous in taking for granted the limitations of His self-expression, but to do so is to undercut the exceptionally precious self-sacrificial relationship initiated by Him in His Advent (Luke 5:32; Heb 1:3). Humanity’s imago deo at the core of our being was meant to represent Him in existential space and time (Gen 1:26), and what poor mirrors we are to Him throughout human history. The fear of God is absolutely based on who He is - the One who said, “I Am That I Am” (Ex 3:14) from the beginning of time, if there is such a thing, towards eternity. The fear of our God is a cultivated relationship. The less we know Him (which is very different from just knowing about Him), the more we do not appreciate what ‘fear of Him’ is all about; and by inference, the less we fear Him. Nevertheless, when we begin to humbly draw near to Yahweh, He will draw close to you (James 4:8).