3 Ways to Grow in the Fear of the Lord
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My sons recently trained together for a marathon. While they both enjoy running, they could not run a marathon right out of the gate. Over a number of weeks, they incrementally increased the number of miles they ran. So it is with many things in life. To grow and improve in something, we must first learn it. Then we must labor at it. Practice it. Train in it. Then we will see the fruit of our labors.
This is just as true when it comes to the fear of the Lord. Numerous times in Scripture, God calls us to fear him with a holy fear—a fear that is filled with awe, wonder, reverence, worship, and love. The Bible tells us this fear is something we can learn and grow in: “Come, O children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD” (Ps. 34:11). But we are not left on our own to develop this fear. God provides us all we need to grow in it (Tit. 2:11-12; 2 Pet. 1:3). What grace! God calls us to fear him and then provides us just what we need to do so.
The following are three practical ways we can train our hearts in the fear of the Lord.
1. Study God’s word.
To grow in the fear of the Lord, we want to center our focus on God’s word for everything we need to know about God. We also find in the pages of Scripture why we are to fear him. Indeed, if we are not in the Word, we cannot expect to grow in a holy fear of God. The Puritan John Bunyan spent years in prison for his faith. He wrote an excellent book on fear, and in it he noted the importance of being in God’s word,
For as a man drinketh good doctrine into his soul, so he feareth God. If he drinks it in much, he feareth him greatly; if he drinketh it in but little, he feareth him but little; if he drinketh it not in at all, he feareth him not at all.[1]
As we read and study the Bible, we can ask ourselves, “What does this teach me about God?” The more we learn about who God is, the more we grow in our fear of him. We can look for examples of his attributes and characteristics. We can take note of the numerous names used to describe him in both the Old and New Testaments. We can look for evidence of how people responded when they encountered him. In so doing we can learn what it looks like to live in a holy fear of him. We can also read and study more of what he has done for us in Christ. For when we encounter his abundant grace for us in Christ, our hearts can’t help but respond in holy fear.
2. Remember God’s works.
Are you forgetful like me? I forget names of people I’ve previously met. I forget birthdays. I forget passwords. But what is far worse is that I forget who God is and what he has done.
God’s people were forgetful as well. When Moses came to deliver them from slavery to Pharaoh, they saw amazing signs and wonders. They saw the angel of death pass over their homes while the rest of Egypt woke up the next morning to the death of all their firstborn. They witnessed the parting of the Red Sea so they could walk safety through to the other side. Yet the first time they felt hunger, they desired to return to Egypt (Exod. 16:3). This became a pattern. Whenever they faced difficulty, they grumbled and defied Moses. They constructed a golden calf to worship out of fear that Moses would not return from the mountain to lead them (Exod. 32). Everything became bigger to them than the God who had rescued and redeemed them. They forgot the works of the Lord; and instead of fearing him, they feared everything else.
“if we are not in the Word, we cannot expect to grow in a holy fear of God.”
God then instilled into their yearly calendar ways for his people to remember him and all he had done for them. From the Sabbath to yearly festivals, celebrations to remembrances, they learned the importance of remembering and reflecting on who God is and what he has done. To grow in our fear of the Lord, we too need to remember his works. We must remember our redemption from sin. We must rehearse the gospel in our hearts each day. We must remember all the ways he has provided for us and met our needs. We must remember his faithfulness and care for us.
One way we can do this is by recording what God has done so we can look back on it when our memories fail us. Another way is to remember what God has done when we worship together with the gathered saints each Lord’s Day, singing praise to him, confessing our shared faith, and feasting together at the communion table.
3. Pray for greater fear.
Last, but certainly not least, we can pray for greater fear. Prayer is a privilege given to the children of the Father, one purchased for us by our elder brother, Jesus Christ. When we pray, we respond to what we’ve learned in God’s word. Prayer is how we abide in and live out our unity with Christ. As we pray to him, we receive from him all the benefits of our union.
In pouring out our hearts to the Lord, we depend upon him more and ourselves less. We find our hearts reshaped to want what God wants more than what we want. We grow to want his glory and fame spread throughout the world and not our own. Indeed, prayer not only feeds and nourishes us, it transforms us. Therefore, we can pray for the Lord to bear in us the fruit of holy fear. As John Bunyan wrote:
Wouldest thou grow in this grace of fear? then be much in prayer to God for abundance of the increase thereof… Pray therefore that God will unite thy heart to fear his name; this is the way to grow in the grace of fear…for it is the praying soul, the man that is mighty in praying, that has a heart for the fear of God to grow in.[2]
Since that first race, my sons have gone on to run many more. And to do so, they continue to train. May we also labor and train through the grace of God at work in us to grow in the fear of the Lord.
Related Articles:
8 Symbols That Give Us a Portrait of Jesus—Revelation 1:9-17
10 Words Every Christian Should Know (and Be Able to Explain)
Recommended:
A Holy Fear: Trading Lesser Fears for the Fear of the Lord by Christina Fox
Notes:
[1] John Bunyan, A Treatise on the Fear of God, https://www.monergism.com/thethreshold/sdg/bunyan/A_Treatise_on_the_Fear_of_God_-_John_Bunyan.pdf, p.60.
[2] Bunyan, p. 121.
