Fear & Trembling

“None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one...There is no fear of God before their eyes.” ~Romans 3:11-18

What is the fear of God? How is fearing God different than fearing the guy with a gun? Well, fearing God usually involves something awe-inspiring and far above us. We should obviously hold fear if we were ever to be on God's bad side, and we should fear for those who are on the path of separation from God and his vital, all-encompassing companionship. But there is something more to fearing God than just these things.

And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?” ~Mark 4:39-41 (ESV)

And his disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing around you, and yet you say, ‘Who touched me?’” And he looked around to see who had done it. But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling and fell down before him and told him the whole truth. ~Mark 5:31-33 (ESV)

And they came to Jesus and saw the demon-possessed man, the one who had had the legion, sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid. ~Mark 5:15 (ESV)

 In each of these situations, the power of God through Jesus was at work before the eyes of those around him. If I saw Jesus working something amazing right beside me, or, much less, through me, then I'm pretty sure it would be a scary thing realizing the divine power I would be standing before--in the presence of God. If I had no faith at that point, I'm sure my fear would be more selfish and I would want nothing to do with the man, but believing in God beforehand would likely only strengthen my awe of, fear toward, and respect for the God of the universe.