For those of us who have been raised with the knowledge of Yeshua, his life, death, resurrection and ascension, “fear of YHWH” may seem somewhat foreign to us.  We are accustomed to hearing the many scripture passages declaring Father’s love for us.

I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me. (Proverbs 8:17 KJV)

YHWH hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee. (Jeremiah 31:3 KJV)

Who shall separate us from the love of Messiah? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? ³⁶ As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. ³⁷ Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. ³⁸ For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, ³⁹ Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Messiah Yeshua our Lord. (Romans 8:35-39 KJV)

Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. ⁸ He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. (1 John 4:7-8 KJV)

Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. (1 John 4:10 KJV)

And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. (1 John 4:16 KJV)

With this great testimony of YHWH’s love for us it is difficult to receive or emotionally connect with the concept of the fear of God.  We may recall the words of the Apostle John,

There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. (1 John 4:18 KJV)

To understand this conflict we need to understand what is meant by “the fear of God”.

For those who do not believe in God at all there is no fear of God evident in their lives.  This is what Abraham saw when he entered Gerar.  Abraham feared for his life and asked Sarah to say she was  Abraham’s sister instead of his wife.  When King Abimelech abducted Sarah YHWH threatened to kill him.  Abimelech confronted Abraham and asked him why he would do such a thing.  Abraham pointed to the lack of fear of God in Gerar.

And Abimelech said unto Abraham, What sawest thou, that thou hast done this thing? ¹¹ And Abraham said, Because I thought, Surely the fear of God is not in this place; and they will slay me for my wife’s sake. (Genesis 20:10-11 KJV)

For one who has encountered the Holy One and is thus becomes a believer, the fear of God is better understood as the fear of death as a result of seeing the Holy One.  We witness this type of fear in children of Israel as they stood at the base of Mount Sinai and heard the voice of YHWH speaking to them.  It is also evident in Manoah and his wife as the messenger of YHWH visited them.

And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die. (Exodus 20:19 KJV)

And Manoah said unto his wife, We shall surely die, because we have seen God. (Judges 13:22 KJV)

The fear of God that is the beginning of wisdom, however, is not a fear of the presence of God but the fear of his absence.  When we ponder the Eternal One and his creation, we quickly realize that everything that exists, exists in him and by him.  All creation is but the expression of the Eternal One’s will, nature, and desire to be known and loved.  All life has its source and sustenance in the Creator.  Apart from the Creator nothing exists.  YHWH is sovereign over the whole of creation. 

Most of our time and lives are lived in the finite.  We are distracted from thoughts of the Eternal One. We are busy preparing our daily bread, earning a living, caring for our families, studying for school, searching for entertainment, managing our households, and pursuing hobbies, sports, or shopping. Much of our life is spent with the mundane realities of life.  We live our lives on the assumption that tomorrow will be much like today.  We plan and go about our daily lives assuming that time simply continues. 

But on occasion the even the mundane can become monumental.  Every now and then, life reminds us that we are not the lord of our own lives.  Either by circumstance or, on occasion by revelation, the reality hits us that we too are finite.  When this revelation becomes reality we suddenly realize how fragile and limited we are. For the believer this is when we begin to understand the “fear of God”.  It is not that we fear being in the presence of his Holiness, though this should never be taken for granted, but it is the fear that our behavior, attitude, and priorities would separate us from the one who loves us beyond measure.  This is the fear of God that is the beginning of wisdom. 

This fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, because it is wisdom to recognize that YHWH is sovereign, YHWH is loving, and that YHWH is the source of all our blessings and our lives!  When this reality becomes clear to us, we live our lives in a completely different way.  When we realize that all life is in YHWH, and because of YHWH, we realize that we are not the center of the universe.  We also realize that we are not solely responsible for the world.  Instead, we realize that we are just one part of the Creator’s greater plan and purpose for life.  When we feel overwhelmed we realize that we are not alone but that our Heavenly Father is there for us.  When we realize that it is YHWH who is responsible for the sun shining, the crops growing, the birds singing, the blessings flowing, our hearts beating, our minds thinking, and our lives happening, we do not want anything to separate us from this love.  YHWH is our strength, our security, our sustenance and our salvation. 

When I ponder the impossibility of life without YHWH, or life alienated from YHWH, I tremble.  Such thoughts, while frightening, are also what makes me all the more ready to cling to YHWH throughout my day and free my heart and mind from the many mundane distractions that otherwise would overwhelm me.  Truly the fear of YHWH is the beginning of wisdom.

I was raised in the Christian faith.  I attended Church services and Sunday School on a weekly basis.  I completed all of the compulsory catechism classes and continued to study the Bible outside of the Church.  Even when we were on vacation or visiting Mema and Pop (my grandparents) out in the country we still attended a local Sunday School and Church service.  My love for the word of God eventually lead me to college and then to Seminary.  In all of this time the Bible stories were repeated again and again and again without much variation.  Whether in my home congregation’s Sunday School class or worship service, or any other church convenient to our travels, the stories were the same and the sermons were the same. “A” always meant “A” and “B” always meant “B” over time these “truths” simply became assimilated into my own thinking, beliefs, walk, and faith. The church’s theology was woven into the very fabric of my faith.  I too became a Sunday School teacher and eventually a preacher that taught “A” always means “A” and “B” always means “B”.  

But every now and then, the Living God moves in a mysterious way.  Every now and then when reading and re-reading the same old stories and lessons from the Bible, the Author of the Bible breathes life into his word.  Every now and then the word of God catches the reader off guard and speaks directly to the heart.  When this happens it can be extremely exciting.  With spiritual eyes and ears opened the old story suddenly becomes alive and meaningful in a dramatically new way.  The mind and soul is flooded with all manner of new understanding.   The little hairs on the back of the neck stand up and words of praise and awe involuntarily gush forth from somewhere in deep within the soul.  But when the warmth of this intimate encounter is over and the excitement and ecstasy of revelation has subsided the reality sets in.

Armed with this new revelation knowledge one must begin resorting everything that one has been taught over the years.  Does this newly discovered understanding line up with the old mantra of “A” always means “A” and “B” always means “B”?  One must begin searching the rest of the scriptures to confirm that the voice heard was indeed the voice of the Shepherd and not merely one’s own wacky sub-conscience trying to deceive.  Once one’s spiritual eyes and ears have been opened to a divine truth it is difficult to silence the echo of the voice of the Creator ringing within the halls of your soul.  Now one must make decisions.  Do you share this newly discerned information? Do you dare to rock the boat and shake the comfortable faith of others? Do you risk being misunderstood, rejected, labeled as a heretic, or a radical, or a trouble maker?  Or for the sake of peace and unity do you simply swallow hard and try to forget the awesome splendor of that moment when the Sovereign Creator of the universe opened your eyes and ears and spoke directly to your heart? 

While Messiah himself may be a solid Rock…the journey of faith is often walked upon shifting sands.  As the Spirit of the Holy One informs and directs our studies, we find that the various foundations we have based our faith upon over the course of our life time are not always as stable or solid as with thought or would like.

I remember as a Lutheran Pastor, studying the book of Acts with no other intention than deepening my already established faith and walk.  I studied the book with the thought that it would confirm the fact that my faith was indeed built upon the right foundation.  But the Living God surprised me.  He answered my prayer that he would show me his truth.  And when the wave of divine understanding came, the foundations of my established faith laid in ruin beneath the tidal-wave of truth. Filled with the certainty that the voice I was hearing did indeed belong to the Good Shepherd, I began following the new path that he was leading me on.  Everything he showed me was lining up, it all made sense, it answered long unresolved questions, and it brought me a sense of peace.  But this peace would end once I left the study and returned to the pieces of the old foundation. 

When we are frightened we have a tendency to jump backwards to where we came from.  We are familiar with where we were.  We had comfort and security where we were.  So it is when our faith is shaken, even by the revelation of the Creator, that we try to go back to where we last felt secure and stable.  But when we try to apply the new information to the old foundation it begins to crumble.  We simply cannot sew a new piece of cloth on the old worn and now torn cloth.  Nor can we pour the new wine of understanding into the old wine skin of a previously established religious system.  The old cloth will tear and be divided by the new revelation.  The old religious system will ultimately burst asunder if filled with the new wine.

When YHWH encounters us—we must be ready to be “born-again”.  We must be ready to become a new creature in Messiah.  Every time we open the Bible we must be ready to put our old man with all of his established theological principles, and religious understandings to death.  Before we read we should make sure that we are prepared for our faith life and journey to take drastic and surprising turns and twists.  We must be prepared to meet the Shepherd and follow his leading, even if it means that we must follow him to the cross and beyond.  We should pray before we open the Bible and ask the Father to open our ears, eyes, heart and mind to his presence and his will.  We must be willing to send the old comfortable garment of our old religious system to the thrift store or rag bag—and put on the new garment created in the image of YHWH.  This is not always so easy to do.  However, trying to fit the new living revelation into the old dead religious system will surely end in disaster.

Yeshua realized that what he was imparting to his disciples would cause them a great deal of grief if they tried to remain in the Pharisaic system of religion they had been raised in.  He knew that just as the religious system of Yeshua’s day persecuted him and sought to silence and kill him; it would not readily accept his teachings as embodied in his disciples.  He did not try to stitch them back into the old system—but called them out to a new life and faith as his body in the world. 

For those who have encountered the living God and have heard his invitation and calling to embrace the Torah as Moses received it and as Yeshua taught it, you know of what I speak.  There is no way to receive this knowledge and apply it to the old system without tearing it and ourselves apart.  YHWH is calling us to become a new cloth, a new creature, a new wineskin ready and able to expand with his ever increasing revelations.  Let us not be afraid to put our old comfortable garment off, and put on the new garment.  Let us not become merely a patch on the old system, but become a whole new clothe fit for our king.  Let us trust, that if YHWH dared to encounter us that he will indeed lead and provide for us all along the journey through the wilderness.

“The preparation of the heart in a man, and the answer of the tongue, is from YHWH.  All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes; but YHWH weigheth the spirits.  Commit thy works unto YHWH and thy thoughts shall be established.” (Proverbs 16:1-3)

It is typical for us to imagine, to see, to desire, and to will for ourselves.  It is most common for us to form a thought, an idea, and a desire within us, and then to pray that the Sovereign Creator of the Universe will hear or discern our thoughts, imagining, and desires and grant us our wish.  Such prayer is not dissimilar to a child reporting to Santa Claus the hope of her heart, or a child making a wish while blowing out his birthday cake candles. To pray in such a way is to turn prayer into magic.  While it is indeed acceptable to make requests from the Father in intercession and supplication, we must recognize that when the prayer originates with us we are standing apart from, and in some instances, over and against, the Father.  When the prayer originates from our own thoughts, hearts, and experience, then we are like the child who makes his desires and hopes known but remains uncertain that the request will be granted.  I am not sure that this type of prayer is the most effective form of prayer.  Nor do I believe that this is what the Father is asking of us in prayer.

In the verses above we see a different form of prayer.  This form of prayer originates with the Father.  To pray in this way is to allow the Spirit of the Holy One to prepare our heart and grant our tongue utterance. When prayer originates with us, it is limited prayer.  We cannot see what the Father sees.  Our knowledge and experience is finite and very limited.  While we may think we see the whole picture, there is no way of knowing what lies beyond what we can see.  The Eternal One can see the past, the present, and the future all at once.  Because of what may yet be in the future, the Father may will some event or experience for a person’s life that will prepare them for what is yet to come.  In our near-sightedness we may see only the immediate challenge and begin to pray that the Father will deliver from the preparatory challenge.  If the Father granted our will, the person would be ill-prepared to face the events of their future.  In essence we would be praying contrary to the will of the Father.  And though our prayer may have been offered most sincerely, and with the person’s best interest at heart, we none the less would have been praying something that would ultimately prove harmful for the person.  This cannot be an affective prayer.  If, however, we are truly crucified in Messiah, then we are completely surrendered to being used of YHWH. 

When we are completely surrendered to the Father, then we allow the Spirit of the Holy One to prepare our heart and mind to receive his will.  In other words, we submit our heart and mind to the Father that he may put his thoughts, will and desires in us.  In this regard, it is the Father that directs even our prayers. The Apostle Shaul alluded to this form of prayer in his letter to the Romans.

“Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.” (Romans 8:26 KJV)  

Even in our prayer life we must remember that we are submitted disciples who do everything, including prayer, in the name of our Master Yeshua the Messiah.  When we do anything “in the name of” another, it means that what we do is done by their authority and is representative of their will.  We cannot originate a prayer in our own heart, mind and will, and simply slap the magic formula “in Yeshua’s name” on the end of it and consider it a done deal.  Prayer is not magic it is inspired.  True prayer “in the name of Yeshua” must originate within Yeshua.  In other words, it must be what he is telling us to pray. If we have embraced the cross then it is not we who live and pray but Messiah who lives and prayers within us.

I am crucified with Messiah: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Messiah liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20 KJV)

The Spirit that filled Yeshua is the Spirit of YHWH.  Yeshua did all that he did in his Father’s name.  This same Spirit of Messiah has been poured out upon the disciples of Yeshua who are the body of Messiah.  When we pray, we must wait upon the Spirit of Messiah (our head) to inform our hearts, minds, and will what they are to ask for, who we are to pray for, and what we are to pray.  The Spirit that guided our Master in prayer must now guide us. 

When we pray in such a manner we may be assured that our prayers will not only be heard but that they will be answered, for we are praying consistent with the Father’s will.  We should also recognize that when we pray in this manner we are no longer praying separate from the Father, but the Father is, praying (expressing his will) through us.  By using us in such a fashion the will of the Father becomes known in an edifying fashion, and others are likewise encouraged to pray.  When we commit our prayer life to YHWH we may be assured that he will establish our works.

The two primary motivations for nearly every human being are life and love.  From the first gasp of breath immediately after our birth, much of our behavior is driven by these two desires.  As infants we desperately cry out for others to help us survive. We demand that others meet the needs, that as infants, we cannot meet for ourselves.  As we grow and gain control of our faculties and the world around us we do all within our power to assure that we will live.  Even in our adulthood, we continue to labor for life.  We do not feel genuine peace until we have secured for ourselves the basics of shelter and food.  With these basics attained we do not stop laboring.  We continue to look for safer places to live, safer cars to drive, and healthier ways of living our life.  Millions are spent each year on medicine, medical care, weight loss products and exercise equipment to defy the aging process.  Even religion can be a symbol of our desire and will to live.  But merely being alive is clearly not enough.  No one wants to merely survive.  If we are honest with ourselves, and evaluate carefully, most of us will acknowledge that our desire to be loved, liked, and appreciated is the driving force behind most of our decisions and actions.  Again even from infancy we desired to be held, cuddled, and loved.  It is this love, in fact, that motivates the will to live.  In our youth this desire to be loved, or to be popular is the greatest temptation to give in to peer pressure.  As employees or employers our desire to be liked and accepted may cause us to make poor business choices or walk contrary to our values.  Politicians often find themselves compromising their core principles for the sake of being liked (and elected) by the majority.  Clearly these to forces, the will to live and the desire to be loved are an intricate part of our human nature.  It may strike us strange then, that the calling of Yeshua to be his disciples calls us to walk contrary to both of these strong forces within us.

For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it. (Mark 8:35 KJV)

And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved. (Matthew 10:22 KJV)

If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. (John 15:18 KJV)

To be a disciple of Yeshua, we are called to lay down our lives.  We must overcome the fallen human nature that puts self-preservation over everything else.  The calling of Yeshua to live life not for the sake of self but for the sake of our Master, Yeshua and the completion of his word and ministry on behalf of the Father.  The calling of discipleship is to put aside our natural desire for self-security, pleasure, comfort, and preservation and to live for the life of the whole world.  Likewise, we are called not to live for the love and approval of our fellow human beings, but to give love to our fellow human beings.  To accomplish this ominous calling we must be willing to give our lives for our Master’s sake, and the sake of the Gospel. We must be willing to spend our energy being a light to the world.

In him was life; and the life was the light of men. (John 1:4 KJV)

Then spake Yeshua again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. (John 8:12 KJV)

As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. (John 9:5 KJV)

Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. ¹⁵ Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. ¹⁶ Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. (Matthew 5:14-16 KJV)

We must also realize however that not everyone loves the light.

And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. ²⁰ For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. (John 3:19-20 KJV)

This is what makes fulfilling the calling so much of a challenge.  Being a disciple of Yeshua means that we must walk contrary to everything that would, otherwise, comes naturally to us, especially, self-preservation and self-love.  For this to happen, we must truly be crucified in Messiah and raised with him to a new life.  We must be raised with a new heart and a new mind.

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. ² And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. (Romans 12:1-2 KJV)

Let this mind be in you, which was also in Messiah Yeshua: ⁶ Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: ⁷ But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: ⁸ And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. ⁹ Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: (Philippians 2:5-9 KJV)

To have the mind of Messiah Yeshua is to take our carnal, natural, fallen mind to the cross and allow Messiah to live within us. 

I am crucified with Messiah: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Messiah liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20 KJV)