Fear and God are connected throughout the Old Testament, a bible search engine will list many, many examples. The New Testament does not emphasize this understanding of a relationship with God but the Lectionary scriptures for today suggest that we should reexamine that connection as a way to enrich our faith life. One of the better known examples of fear and God comes from Proverbs 2:
Tune your ears to the world of Wisdom; set your heart on a life of Understanding.That's right—if you make Insight your priority, and won't take no for an answer…Searching for it like a prospector panning for gold, like an adventurer on a treasure hunt,Believe me, before you know it Fear-of-God will be yours; you'll have come upon the Knowledge of God.
The Old Testament understanding of fear of God contains both true fear of the power and might of God along with an awe of the evidence of God’s ongoing presence in all of creation.
· Do you associate the word fear with your relationship with God? How does injecting fear into an understanding of God work for you, is it a positive or negative.
· What has stimulated a sense of awe about God in your life’s experiences?
· What does the writer of Proverbs urge us to do to find knowledge of God? What priority should be set? What are some places you would recommend including in the search for this kind of knowledge?
· In summary it seems that this sense of fear is something to be valued, do you agree with this idea?
Two of today’s Lectionary scriptures speak to an awe/fear of God. The first is taken from the beginning of the creation story in Genesis 1:
Genesis 1:1-2 First this: God created the Heavens and Earth—all you see, all you don't see. Earth was a soup of nothingness, a bottomless emptiness, an inky blackness. God's Spirit brooded like a bird above the watery abyss. 3-5 God spoke: "Light!" And light appeared. God saw that light was good and separated light from dark. God named the light Day, he named the dark Night. It was evening, it was morning— Day One.
· What is the writer trying to convey to you as he describes conditions at the creation? What do you think he wants us to comprehend about the time creation began? Are there words or phrases that help form a picture for you?
· Do you find any elements of fear or awe of God in these words? What particularly strikes you?
· What were the beginning condition, what did God first create? For the writers of Genesis the earth was all of creation, everything else resided in the ceiling that covered the earth. How is the earth/creation described; are there limits/boundaries, is it comprehendible?
· How is God’s Spirit described? What does ‘brooding like a bird’ mean to you?
· What happens as a result of this brooding? What is the first step God takes?
· Light is an important image and associated with Jesus frequently in the Gospels. As you read it do you see any connections with the creation story? Chaper 1 of John might be considered a New Testament creation story. Does John's assertion that Jesus was present at creation surprise you?
John 1:3-5
Everything was created through him; nothing—not one thing!—came into being without him. What came into existence was Life, and the Life was Light to live by. The Life-Light blazed out of the darkness; the darkness couldn't put it out.
You might want to look for additional refrences in the New Testament to both light and darkness along with the assertion that Jesus was present at the creation.
Another scripture that speaks to awe/fear of God comes from Psalm 8:
Lord our sovereign, how glorious is your name throughout the world! Your majesty is praised as high as the heavens…
When I look up at your heavens, the work of your fingers, at the moon and the stars you have set in place, what is a frail mortal, that you should be mindful of him?
Yet you have made him little less than a god, crowning his head with glory and honour, you make him master over all that you have made, putting everything in subjection under his feet: all sheep and oxen, all the wild beasts, the birds in the air, the fish in the sea, and everything that moves along ocean paths.
Lord our sovereign, how glorious is your name throughout the world!
· What is the first awesome thing that the psalmist records? What specific words are meaningful to you? What has your reaction been to pictures from the Hubble telescope and programs about the universe on TV, have your reflected on God’s place in all of this?
· What question does the psalmist have for God on behalf of us ‘frail mortals’? As you think about the infinity of God’s creation has this question ever arisen for you? What other questions might you have for God as you think about creation?
· How do you feel about the psalmist’s assertion that God has made us ‘little less than a god’? What questions does it raise for you, what does it say about the responsibilities we all take on with this status?
· Where does the idea that all things are under subjection to us come from? What does God say about humans and creation in Genesis 1:26-30?
· The sense of awe of God is clear in this psalm, is there any sense of fear in his words?
* What is your take on all this, how does fear and awe of God fit into your faith journey, has your thinking changed at all?
Closing Prayer
God be in my head, and in my understanding
God be in my eyes, and in my looking
God be in my mouth and in my speaking
God be in my heart, and in my thinking
Amen
The Oxford Book of Prayer
Next Week’s Lectionary Scriptures: Genesis 22:1-14 or Jeremiah 28:5-9, Psalm 13 or Psalm 89:1-4, 15-18, Romans 6:12-23, Matthew 10:40-42
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