I want to love God with all that I am and to more completely know God’s love, so that my life is dictated by that love.

And yet, lately I’ve realized that that is not enough. I also need to fear Him more. Love and fear of God go hand in hand. We need both.

I’ve heard many more sermons and teaching about loving the Lord than I have about fearing Him. And with reason. After all, the great commandment is that we love the Lord. But there are also many verses that tell us to fear Him.

Psalm 128:1 sums it up well, “Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in His ways!” (Ps. 128:1).

That verse says, “blessed is everyone,” but it clarifies that it’s everyone who fears God and walks in His ways. The promise hinges on obedience and  implies that the obedience is influenced by fear. Fearing the Lord leads to obedience, which leads to being blessed.

It also involves more than awe, reverence,  or honor. I believe it includes an element of being afraid of God.

The notion that you shouldn’t fear someone you love is off base. It is good to have some fear of authority.

To better grasp the concept, consider your relationship with your parents. As a child, how much did fear of discipline from your parents or teachers influence you to obey?

I love my dad and he was a good father. However, if I was fooling around and heard him clear his throat in the next room, I straightened up quickly, because I knew that there were consequences for disobedience.

God is the Supreme authority over all things. If we don’t fear Him, we will often do our own thing.

The more I’ve thought of the relationship between love for God and fear of Him, the more that I realize they go hand in hand. For example:

1. Love of God makes me want to please Him, so I obey. Likewise, fear of God makes me choose to obey when I’d rather do otherwise.
2. Knowing God’s love, mercy, and forgiveness gives me courage to run to Him when I’m ashamed and disappointed in myself. Likewise, fear of a jealous and wrathful God compels me to return to Him when I know I’m wrong but am tempted to remain in sin.
3. Love of God entices me to read the Word (or go to church, fellowship with other believers, pray, . . .) so I will know Him more and hear His voice. Similarly, when the heavens seem closed and I’d rather be left alone in my misery, fear of God compels me to read the Word (go to church, fellowship, . . .).
4. Love of God fills my heart with joy and gratefulness because He loves someone so undeserving as me. Likewise, fear of God induces me to think on whatsoever things are good, lovely, and of good report when my heart is full of darkness.

The list goes on, but you get the message.

Love is a decision. It is more than emotions, but our responses in life are often influenced by our emotions, and they fluctuate and are influences by self-centered desires.

God gave us guidelines and boundaries to keep us out of trouble so that we would have a blessed life. It is good when we are motivated by love, and in response to His love, to stay within those boundaries.

However, fear influences toward right decisions when love does not offer sufficient motivation.

We can’t drum up fear of the Lord any more than we can manufacture love for Him. It’s a gift and it grows as we know Him better and draw closer to Him.

However, there are things we can do to encourage it.

• First, we can ask God to teach us to fear Him. He wouldn’t repeatedly tell us the benefits of fearing Him if He didn’t want it for us more than we want it ourselves.
• We can study fear in the Word, listing the benefits of fear and meditate on our findings.
• We can make note of stories in the Bible that show consequences of not fearing God, such as David and Bathsheba,

Yes, if you cry out for discernment, And lift up your voice for understanding,If you seek her as silver, And search for her as for hidden treasures; Then you will understand the fear of the LORD, And find the knowledge of God (Prov. 2:3-5).