The
fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
The
arm of the Lord is an anthropomorphic understanding of God’s strength. The
mountain of the Lord, a physical revelation of God as refuge. The angel of the
Lord, a manifestation of God’s word. The fear of the Lord is the manifestation
of God’s wisdom in an uncertain world.
More
than anything else, the thing God says to human beings is, ‘Do not be afraid.’
In time, we read that perfect love casts out fear. The point is not that those
who know God should not be afraid of anyone or anything; but that they do not
need to be afraid of God. Over and again, God insists – and acts in ways to
back up his claim – that we do not need to be afraid of him.
Fear
is a built-in, God-given survival mechanism, one that is grounded in the very
nature of God. And God comes to train us in how to live with a sympathetic
nervous system.
My
children’s generation are the most fearful generation in living memory, though
not the first generation in history to be paralysed by fear. But paralysed by
fear, they are. And in need of God’s training, in how to be fully human, in a
fully divine way, in the world.
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