The fear of the Lord (10-7-11)

Psalm 111:10 - "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; A good understanding have all those who do His commandments; His praise endures forever."

In Deuteronomy chapter 5 Moses is recounting some of the events that happened throughout the book of Exodus. When God told the people of Israel the ten commandments we're told that He spoke to them from the midst of the fire. Verses 4 and 5 say - "The Lord spoke to you face to face at the mountain from the midst of the fire, while I was standing between the Lord and you at that time, to declare to you the word of the Lord; for you were afraid because of the fire and did not go up the mountain." God descended onto mount Sinai in the midst of a consuming fire and spoke to His people. Then we read in verses 22-27 - "These words the Lord spoke to all your assembly at the mountain from the midst of the fire, of the cloud and of the thick gloom, with a great voice, and He added no more. He wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me. And when you heard the voice from the midst of the darkness, while the mountain was burning with fire, you came near to me, all the heads of your tribes and your elders. You said, ‘Behold, the Lord our God has shown us His glory and His greatness, and we have heard His voice from the midst of the fire; we have seen today that God speaks with man, yet he lives. Now then why should we die? For this great fire will consume us; if we hear the voice of the Lord our God any longer, then we will die. For who is there of all flesh who has heard the voice of the living God speaking from the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived? Go near and hear all that the Lord our God says; then speak to us all that the Lord our God speaks to you, and we will hear and do it."
The children of Israel had an improper fear of God. The fear of the Lord is a prominent theme in Scripture. We're told that the fear of the Lord keeps us from sin. It leads to intimacy with God, it leads to great reward, it's the beginning of wisdom and understanding, and so on. The fear of the Lord is a reverential fear of displeasing God. Not merely a fear of punishment, but a fear motivated by love for Him to keep us from sinning. The children of Israel had an improper fear of the Lord, but Moses on the other hand had the right fear of the Lord. The peoples fear caused them to run away, to distance themselves from God. Moses' fear of the Lord, however, caused him to draw near to God. The people heard the voice of God and ran away. They recognized what an amazing thing it was that they could see the terrifying greatness of God in the fire on the mountain and hear the sound of His voice and live, but they were so frightened that they said they didn't want to hear His voice anymore lest they die, and they told Moses to go near to God for them, and Moses went. We see Moses going into the midst of the consuming fire and yet not being burned up.

Our God is a consuming fire, and He is truly terrifying. When we spend time learning more and more about God and seeing how holy and righteous and separate from sin He is, and that He cannot tolerate sin at all, and then we look at ourselves and how vile and corrupt we are we can respond in two ways. We can, like the children of Israel, distance ourselves from God and keep living a lukewarm life, or, like Moses, we can draw near to God and allow His fire to consume all the worthless things in our lives. These are the only two responses to the fear of the Lord. It will cause you to either distance yourself from God, which is an improper fear of the Lord, or it will cause you to draw near to God, which is the only proper response. 

Exodus 20:20 - "Moses said to the people, "Do not be afraid; for God has come in order to test you, and in order that the fear of Him may remain with you, so that you may not sin.""