Responding To God - Fear (Part 3)

Continued from part 1 and part 2

Fear as Response


When we read of men coming face-to-face with angelic beings we see men fall in fear to their knees (eg. Rev 19:10). Thankfully the angels honour God and refuse to have us bow to them as they are fellow servants of God.

Fear is the natural human response toward something more powerful, majestic, and superior in strength than us, it is what we feel when we realize danger. We fear heights because a slip of our foot could have us plummet to our death; we fear fierce dogs because they could severely injure us with their gnashing teeth; and we look both ways before crossing a road because we fear the injuries a vehicle would cause if we stepped in front of one.
However, we all need to learn what things to fear. My 2 year old has to be taught road safety, or he would run on, unaware of the danger he'd be in. Let me use another illustration:

A few years ago i was on an island that is a bird sanctuary. The birds there would waddle right up to us with no fear, and we could walk right up to their nests. Why? Because they had never before met humans to know and understand the cruelty that could befall them at the hands of our kind. If they had, they would have fled from us with squawks of terror.

We feel afraid only when we understand the danger or risk involved.
And so fear of God; that true and acceptable fear of God, can only come when we behold; when we see; when we know God in his transcendent power, glory, might, wrath, jealousy, love and beauty, etc