Grace in fear

As David faced fear, perhaps from the threat of death from his son, Absalom's rebellion, he sat down and wrote Psalm 62. It's beginning just grips me;

"My soul waits in silence for God only;
From Him is my salvation
He only is my rock and salvation,
My stronghold; I shall not be greatly shaken" (v 1, 2)

Fear is a blessing from God, like any other emotion. And like all blessings that the Lord has graced us with, we can either use it sinfully, or to glorify Him. There is an ungodly fear, and a godly fear. Ungodly fear focuses so much on one's circumstances rather than on God. As David wrote this Psalm, his attention was immediately directed to God, and not his circumstances. I have found this true this week in my own life as I was overwhelmed by the circumstances that my thoughts focused on. It is true, our thoughts in many ways are the ultimate battle ground. Solomon writes that as a man thinks in his heart, so is he (Proverbs 23: 7a). And Paul affirms this as well in Philippians 4:8 - 9

"Finally brethren, what ever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there's any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. The things things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you"

So often as believers, we spend so much time in the Word and do not practice it where it matters the most, in our thoughts. How we filter situations around us should really set us apart as those who know the Lord. What is ungodly fear? It is when we fear something else more than God. I found myself afraid of the future, unprojected, illusive, unsure, anxious. The thing about ungodly fear is that it does lead or motivate us to other sins, one of the foremost being not trusting the Lord and a fear of man. When Isaac was asked about his wife by the men of Gerar, he lied to them saying she was his sister (Genesis 26: 7) thinking he might be killed. The fear of man led Peter to be confronted by Paul in Galatians 2: 11 - 12. Ultimately ungodly fear is self and man focused rather than focused on fearing God.
But what does the fear of God mean? I have been wrestling with this question this week.
"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge..." writes Solomon in Proverbs 1:7.
Yes there is the idea of reverential awe associated with this concept. But there is a real sense in which it also can mean that one's thoughts are exchanged for God's thoughts. One's emotions, will, desires, attitude are exchanged for God's. How do we know what this looks like? His Word. This is the means by which God has allowed us to know Him.

Fear is a huge blessing in the sense that it does point us to our weakness. Ungodly fear defeats this purpose by pointing us to the lie of our strength. God uses our fear to confront us with the fact that He is God and we are His creature. It is in these times of fear that we are called to seek His help as David did in Psalm 62. When we are drawn to our weakness and broken to the reality of our finite frailty we can only but be drawn to a greater trust in God in which He is most glorified. We are drawn to His character, His faithfulness, His promises. In my weakness this week, I found strength in the Lord, and I would rather boast in His strength than in anything else. I am inclined then to argue that God uses fear to draw us to Himself. It is not an emotion to be shunned from, but an opportunity to see how God is growing us to trust Him, to love Him, and to love others. It is a temptation and test we must be willing to endure with the utmost joy.
As I went through this week I realized that godly fear cannot operate apart from two things (among a host of others). The first is a realization that God is sovereign, that is, He is in control of everything and nothing occurs apart from His will. The second is that of grace. We cannot strive for godly fear in our own strength but on a reliance on God's strength by which He freely bestows on us through His grace. This is something that the Lord used to draw me to trust Him more this week. My soul is silent and waits on God only. From Him is my deliverance. He is my rock, my salvation, my stronghold.