“The Lord Almighty is
the one you are to regard as holy, he is the one you are to fear, he is the one
you are to dread” Isaiah 8:13.
I had several encounters over the past week that
left me quite disappointed in myself. One in particular, was a remarkable
opportunity to explain the gospel to someone.
But instead, I acquiesced to the politically correct voice to
simply encourage this person with some “safe words.” How cowardly!
As I went about grieving over my seeming faithlessness,
I was met by Isaiah 8:11-13. And what a fascinating truth it brought. In that
passage, the LORD warns Isaiah against the common fears of his age. Verses 11
and 12 state:
“This is what the
Lord says to me with his strong hand upon me, warning me not to follow the way
of this people: ‘Do not call conspiracy everything this people calls a
conspiracy; do not fear what they fear and do not dread it.”
A prudent caution from the LORD. Its goal
however is not to exhort Isaiah to live without fear but rather to relinquish
all his “slavish creature-fears in the reverential fear of God.”[1]
Verse 13 states: “The Lord Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy, he is
the one you are to fear, he is the one you are to dread.” So in short, Isaiah, don’t fear what others fear, but
let your dread and regard be for The Lord Almighty who is holy.
The picture then is not overcoming the first
fear with some wonderful jolt of courage but rather making that first fear a
trivial thing in light of an even greater
fear: the fear of a transcendent and holy God – One who is far removed from you
and me in righteousness. He is perfect beyond our understanding. He is awesome
in His majesty, absolute in His justice and fearsome in His glory (Isaiah 6:5,
Luke 5:8). He is a God to be feared! What an insult to regard someone else’s
perception of me over His honor! What a sin!
I’m grieving over my sin today and mourning over
the offense it is to God’s glory (James 4:8-10). I understand that my hope for
overcoming rests alone in God’s sanctifying power. So I’m drawing close to Him
in fervent prayer, not for fearlessness, but for a consuming and reverential
fear of Him that makes all other fears inconsequential.
