Holy Awe

The phrase “fear of the Lord” can be difficult for modern Christians.

We know that God is loving.

We know that He is gracious and merciful.

We know that through Jesus Christ we are invited to draw near to Him with confidence.

So when Scripture repeatedly tells us to fear God, we may wonder how fear can possibly belong beside love, grace, intimacy, and trust.

The answer begins by understanding what the Bible means by holy fear.

The fear of the Lord is not the terror of someone who believes God is looking for a reason to reject or destroy them.

It is the response of a person who has begun to recognize the overwhelming greatness of the God before whom they stand.

Holy awe is what happens when the reality of who God is becomes greater in our hearts than our casual ideas about Him.

Holy Awe Begins with Seeing God as Holy

Scripture does not begin by asking us to create a feeling of reverence.

It reveals a God who is worthy of reverence.

Isaiah was given a vision of the Lord exalted upon His throne. The heavenly beings around Him declared:

Isaiah's response was not casual curiosity.

He suddenly became aware of the difference between God's holiness and his own condition.

The same pattern appears elsewhere in Scripture.

When John saw the risen Christ in Revelation, he fell at His feet. When the disciples witnessed Jesus exercise authority over creation, they were filled with awe. Again and again, encounters with the greatness of God produce humility, wonder, worship, and reverence.

Holy awe therefore begins not by concentrating on ourselves, but by looking toward God.

His holiness.

His authority.

His wisdom.

His power.

His justice.

His mercy.

His love.

The more clearly we see God's greatness, the less casually we can treat Him.

What Is the Fear of the Lord?

Biblical fear includes reverence, honor, respect, wonder, humility, and submission.

It means recognizing that God is God—and we are not.

It means taking His character seriously.

It means taking His Word seriously.

It means caring more about His approval than the approval of people.

It means refusing to treat sin casually because sin opposes the character of the One we love.

And it means obeying God not merely because we fear consequences, but because we trust Him and desire to honor Him.

Scripture calls the fear of the Lord the beginning of wisdom.

That makes sense.

Wisdom begins when we stop arranging reality around ourselves and begin seeing life from the perspective of the One who created it. For a deeper exploration of how God's truth reshapes the way we understand reality and live faithfully within it, see Worldview of the Christian Faith .

God knows what gives life.

God knows what destroys it.

God sees what we cannot see.

To fear the Lord is therefore to place ourselves beneath His wisdom rather than above it.

Holy Fear Is Not Terror of God

We must make an important distinction.

The fear of the Lord is not living in constant anxiety that God is waiting to punish us.

It is not believing that God is reluctant to forgive.

It is not shrinking away from Him because we think His presence is unsafe for those who belong to Christ.

The gospel teaches something very different.

In Christ we encounter God's mercy.

We receive forgiveness.

We are invited to draw near.

And remarkably, Scripture connects that forgiveness with learning to fear Him.

God's mercy does not make Him smaller.

It makes His grace more astonishing.

We do not look at the cross and conclude that sin was insignificant.

We see how serious sin is—and how extraordinary God's mercy is.

Grace does not eliminate holy awe. Grace gives us another reason to stand in awe.

Love and Holy Fear Belong Together

We sometimes assume that love and fear must be opposites.

But biblical reverence grows out of relationship.

When we know that God loves us, we do not need to live terrified that He will abandon us.

Yet the more we know Him, the more precious His character becomes to us.

We begin to care deeply about honoring Him.

We do not want to grieve Him.

We do not want to treat His Word as optional.

We do not want to take His presence for granted.

Love draws us near.

Holy fear keeps our hearts humble and surrendered as we draw near.

Together they produce a relationship marked by both confidence and reverence.

The Fear of the Lord Shapes Worship

Worship is one of the clearest places where holy awe becomes visible.

Notice the connection.

Grace.

Gratitude.

Worship.

Reverence.

Awe.

Scripture does not present these ideas as competitors.

We worship God joyfully because of His grace, while remembering that the One we worship is holy.

Worship becomes more than music.

It becomes the response of the whole person to the worth of God.

What Does It Mean That God Is a Consuming Fire?

Hebrews describes God as a consuming fire.

That image can sound threatening if we separate it from the rest of Scripture.

But fire is used in several ways throughout the Bible.

Fire can reveal God's holy presence.

Fire can represent His opposition to evil.

Fire can purify.

Fire can refine.

Fire can communicate the overwhelming intensity of God's holiness and glory.

At the burning bush, Moses was told that the ground was holy because God was present.

Malachi uses the picture of a refiner's fire to describe purification.

Deuteronomy connects God's consuming fire with His covenant jealousy.

God's jealousy is not insecurity.

It is the holy love of the God who desires the hearts of His people and opposes what destroys them.

God's holiness does not compete with His love. His holy love is part of what makes Him worthy of awe.

To Tremble Before God

Scripture sometimes uses the language of trembling.

Trembling does not have to mean panic.

It is the recognition that we are dealing with something infinitely greater than ourselves.

We tremble when we realize God's authority is real.

We tremble when His Word exposes us.

We tremble when we recognize that His holiness is beyond anything we can manufacture.

We tremble when we understand that His love is deeper than we can measure.

A person who trembles at God's Word does not treat Scripture merely as interesting religious information. For practical help learning to read Scripture carefully, in context, and with the intention of responding faithfully, see How Do I Read and Understand the Bible?

They listen with the intention of responding.

Holy awe gives God's Word our full attention.

God Is Always Present

God is omnipresent.

There is nowhere in creation where He is absent.

Yet Christians also speak about God's manifest or tangible presence— moments when His presence becomes especially evident to us.

Scripture contains many such moments.

Moses encountered God at Sinai.

The cloud of God's glory filled the tabernacle.

The temple was filled with His glory.

The Holy Spirit came upon believers at Pentecost.

Throughout Christian life, believers may experience a profound awareness of God's nearness through conviction, worship, prayer, peace, joy, unity, guidance, or the work of the Holy Spirit.

We cannot manufacture God's presence.

It is a gift of grace.

But we can choose whether we approach God casually or reverently.

Before we ask what we want from God's presence, we should remember whose presence we are entering.

The Glory of God

Holy awe grows as our understanding of God's glory grows.

Scripture uses the language of glory to describe the revealed greatness, holiness, beauty, goodness, and character of God.

Moses once asked God:

God's response connected His glory with His goodness and His name.

God's glory is therefore more than raw power.

It includes the perfection of who He is.

His holiness.

His goodness.

His justice.

His compassion.

His mercy.

His faithfulness.

The more we know God's character, the more precious His glory becomes to us.

Jesus Reveals the Glory of God

The clearest revelation of God's glory is Jesus Christ.

Jesus does not reveal a different God from the God of holiness.

In Jesus we see God's holiness and God's compassion.

God's justice and God's mercy.

God's authority and God's humility.

God's truth and God's grace.

Hebrews describes the Son as the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of His being.

The cross itself displays God's glory because there we see both the seriousness of sin and the astonishing depth of divine love. To explore more deeply why the Cross reveals both God's holiness and His mercy, see What Is God Doing on a Cross? .

To grow in awe of God is ultimately to see more clearly the God revealed in Jesus Christ.

God's Glory Is Meant to Transform Us

Encounters with God's glory are not given merely so that we can have powerful spiritual experiences.

God intends to change us.

Moses came down from Sinai visibly affected by time in God's presence.

Paul describes believers as being transformed increasingly into the image of the Lord.

We behold.

We are humbled.

We worship.

We obey.

And over time, what we behold begins to shape who we become.

Holy Awe Changes Everyday Life

Holy awe is not merely an emotion experienced during worship.

It changes ordinary decisions.

A person growing in the fear of the Lord begins asking different questions.

Not merely:

“Can I get away with this?”

But:

“Will this honor God?”

Holy awe affects what we say.

What we watch.

How we handle relationships.

How we work.

How we worship.

How we respond when nobody else is watching.

How seriously we take sin.

How quickly we obey.

And how deeply we desire God's approval rather than human approval.

How Do We Cultivate Holy Awe?

We cannot manufacture reverence through emotion alone.

But we can place ourselves where our view of God is continually enlarged by truth.

Read passages that reveal His majesty—such as Isaiah 6, Psalm 103, Psalm 145, Revelation 4–5, and Hebrews 12.

Begin prayer with praise before immediately moving to requests.

Spend time reflecting on God's character.

Practice obedience in small decisions as well as large ones.

Worship with other believers.

Ask God to make you more aware of His presence.

And ask Him to reveal where familiarity has become casualness.

A simple pattern begins to emerge:

Behold God's glory → Grow in holy awe → Walk in holy fear → Draw near with reverence.

A Question Worth Asking

Perhaps the most important question for this first week is not:

“Am I afraid of God?”

The better question is:

“Do I see God clearly enough that my life is increasingly shaped by reverence for Him?”

Holy awe does not drive us away from God.

It teaches us how to draw near.

Not casually.

Not carelessly.

But with gratitude, humility, confidence, worship, and wonder.

Reflection

Take a few moments to consider these questions:

1. When you hear the phrase “fear of the Lord,” what thoughts or emotions immediately come to mind?
2. Have you ever emphasized God's love and grace in a way that caused you to think less about His holiness?
3. How would you explain the difference between holy fear and being terrified of God?
4. Do you tend to think more often about God's blessings or about God's character?
5. Is there an area of your life where familiarity with God has become casualness?
6. What would change if you lived today with a greater awareness of God's presence?

Take the Next Step

Choose one practice this week that will deliberately help you cultivate greater reverence for God.

You might begin each day by reading a passage that focuses on God's character rather than immediately asking Him for something.

You might spend several minutes praising God for who He is.

You might identify one area where God has already spoken clearly and respond with obedience.

Or you might simply slow down before prayer and remind yourself:

“I am entering the presence of the holy and living God.”

Ask Him to deepen your reverence, enlarge your understanding of His glory, and make holy awe more than an idea.

Ask Him to let it shape the way you live.

Continue Week One

Complete the Week One Study Guide

You have finished the Week One teaching. Now take time to examine the key Scriptures more closely, reflect on your understanding of the fear of the Lord, pray, discuss what you are learning, and choose one practical response of reverence and obedience.

Begin the Week One Study Guide →