How to Grow in the Fear of the Lord

We’ve been reading Deuteronomy 17:19 for the past couple of weeks, which tells us the instructions God gave to kings. He told them to hand-copy the book of the Law. It says, specifically, “It is to remain with him, and he is to read from it all the days of his life, so that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, to observe all the words of this instruction, and to do these statutes.” 

You might be wondering why I am going back to this concept yet again. Is the fear of the Lord really this important? Yes, it truly is. Without a proper fear of the Lord, we will not have proper theology—which is just a fancy way of saying we won’t have correct beliefs about God.

Like I said last week, a lot of Christians hold incorrect beliefs about God. They mistake His kindness for permission to sin. But God’s kindness is intended to lead us to repentance. That is why simply knowing God loves us does not lead us to repentance. And that is why we cannot discount the fear of the Lord. But we will only fear the Lord if we have a proper understanding of who He is. Which is why we must read God’s Word each day, so we will know Who He is and understand that He cannot be mocked or trifled with.

The fear of the Lord is the starting place for our faith, and how we continue on in faith, so how do we grow in the fear of the Lord? That’s what I want us to look at today.

A.W. Tozer, in his book, “The Root of Righteousness,” explains how we grow in the fear of the Lord, but first he explains how we don’t grow. He writes, “Because the fear of God is a supernatural thing it can never be raised by repeated warnings about war or Communism or depressions. The current trick of frightening people into accepting Christ by threatening them with atom bombs and guided missiles is not scriptural, neither is it effective. By shooting off firecrackers in the face of a flock of goats you could conceivably succeed in herding them into a sheepfold; but all the natural fear in the world cannot make a sheep out of a goat. And neither can fear of [another country’s] invasion turn impenitent men into lovers of God and righteousness. It just does not work that way.”

Tozer wrote that in the 1950s. I don’t think anything has changed. If you read history at all, or you’ve been paying attention, you will notice a trend. When something tragic happens in a country, oftentimes, the people, or even the government leaders, will cry out to God and ask for His help and mercy. In tragedies or distress, people tend to turn to God and seek His help. They suddenly realize that they need God. They suddenly remember that God exists, and that He is bigger than anything else, and so they pray for His help. When faced with the fear of death, they think they had better cover all their bases, so to speak, and get on His good side. They are experiencing an inferior form of the fear of God, though.

This sort of “fear of God” isn’t the same thing as what I’ve been talking about, or what the instructions in Deuteronomy are seeking to produce in kings. That kind of fear of the Lord that cries out in crisis is temporary. When the crisis passes, the people forget about God. The fear of the Lord that Deuteronomy is speaking of comes not from a place of fear of death from mortal danger, but from a proper understanding of Who God is and who we are in relation to His holiness.

Tozer explains how we grow in a proper fear of the Lord. He says, “Whence then does the true fear of God arise? From the knowledge of our own sinfulness and a sense of the presence of God. Isaiah had an acute experience both of his personal uncleanness and of the awesome presence of Jehovah: the two were more than he could stand. On his face he cried out a confession of his own sinfulness, made all the more intolerable because his eyes had seen the King, even the Lord of Hosts.”

You can read more about Isaiah and his experience in a former sermon I wrote, or simply read his story in Isaiah 6, but the point is: Isaiah saw a vision of the Lord sitting on His throne and he was overcome by the Lord’s holiness. This caused him to realize that he was an unclean, sinful man. Just as Isaiah realized his sinfulness in the presence of the Lord, Tozer says that the way to grow in the fear of the Lord is through the knowledge of our own sinfulness and a sense of the presence of God.

How do we gain knowledge of our own sinfulness? By reading God’s Word. Hebrews 4:12 says, “For the word of God is living and effective and sharper than any double-edged sword, penetrating as far as the separation of soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”

God’s Word is alive. When we read God’s Word, the Holy Spirit speaks to our hearts, convicting us, and showing us how we have fallen short of God’s holy standard. We may look holy and perfect compared to our sinful culture, but compared to God’s standard of perfect holiness, we all fail miserably in so many ways. When we read His Word, we see this clearly and we see how much we need Him to help us and impart His righteousness to us.

This is what happened with Isaiah when he was in the presence of God. He saw himself compared to God and he knew he was a sinful man. I doubt many of us will have a vision where we see the Lord on His throne, but we certainly should seek the Lord’s presence. Besides reading God’s Word, the other way to do this is to spend time in prayer.

We see this is what happened with King David. Look at what he prays in Psalm 51:1-4. It says, “Have mercy on me, O God,    because of your unfailing love.Because of your great compassion,    blot out the stain of my sins.Wash me clean from my guilt.    Purify me from my sin.For I recognize my rebellion;    it haunts me day and night.Against you, and you alone, have I sinned;    I have done what is evil in your sight.You will be proved right in what you say,    and your judgment against me is just.”

King David realized his sinfulness and his need to be cleansed, after he spent time in the presence of the Lord through prayer. He realized that he had sinned against the Lord, and he needed to be washed clean from his guilt.

When was the last time that you spent time in prayer? I don’t mean when was the last time you casually spoke to God. I mean, when was the last time you got alone and gave God time and space to speak to you, and you waited and listened for Him to speak?

Jesus tells us how to pray in Matthew 6:6, when He says, “But when you pray, go into your private room, shut your door, and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” The point is not that we must have a designated room to pray in, but rather that we regularly seek moments where we can be alone and pray. We need to be alone so we can pour out our hearts in secret and hear Him speak to our hearts without anyone distracting us. If you truly have nowhere to be alone, then even before you fall sleep, in the privacy of your mind, you can call out to the Lord and wait for Him to answer you.

When we spend focused time in prayer, waiting in His presence, He will speak to us. He will reveal more of Himself to us and reveal more of our true self to us, too. I don’t know how many times I have sat with the Lord and He has gently, and sometimes not so gently, rebuked me and called me to account about some issue in my heart or action on my part. When He speaks to us, let us be God-fearing enough to respond in humility and repentance, and ask Him to forgive us and help us. He will be faithful to cleanse us and change us.  

King David didn’t just spend time in prayer, though, he also knew God’s word and he mediated on it. Again, so too, must we. As that verse in Deuteronomy tells us, we see that the fear of the Lord is learned by consistently reading, meditating on, and seeking to obey God’s Word.

Growing in the fear of the Lord is not automatic. Look what Proverbs 2:1-5 (CSB) says:

1 My son, if you accept my wordsand store up my commands within you,

2 listening closely to wisdomand directing your heart to understanding;

3 furthermore, if you call out to insightand lift your voice to understanding,

4 if you seek it like silverand search for it like hidden treasure,

5 then you will understand the fear of the Lordand discover the knowledge of God.

How do those actions teach us to understand the fear of the Lord? Let’s look at them closer. The first way is found in verse 1, which says, “if you accept my words and store up my commands within you.” To accept God’s words and store up His commands within us means that we need to believe and memorize God’s Word.

But what does that really mean? We already know we must read God’s Word, but this verse tells us that we need to accept God’s words as they are written. This means that we don’t try to alter God’s word to better fit into our culture or preferences.

This relates directly to the fear of the Lord. If we have a proper fear of the Lord, then we will be too afraid to alter His words. If we are not God-fearing, then we’ll feel free to change or ignore what He’s said, because we don’t truly respect Him. A lack of the fear of the Lord leads people to treat His Word casually—like it’s up for debate or adjustment depending on what’s culturally acceptable.

I think a good example of this lack of respect for God’s word is seen by how many Christians today no longer believe what the Bible says about creation. I believe this stems from a lack of reverence for God’s Word and a diminished fear of the Lord. Many people think they are too intelligent or too educated to believe that God created the world in six literal days, as Genesis describes. People have become so influenced by modern science and intellectual trends that they feel embarrassed by what Scripture plainly teaches. They see themselves, or their professors or culture, as more credible than God’s Word. So, instead of letting Scripture shape their thinking, they reshape Scripture to fit the assumptions of modern science. To be blunt, they seem more concerned with being accepted by the academic world than by being faithful to the Word of God. In the end, it seems they fear man more than they fear the Lord.

Of course, some will argue that God could have used evolution to create the world, and that this still reflects His power. I understand that point, but I disagree. Evolution, by its definition, gives the credit to natural processes, mutation, time, chance, matter, and not to the spoken Word of God. Even if someone tries to put God at the start of it all, the theory itself removes the need for a God who speaks and brings life into existence by His Word. Whereas the Genesis account shows us a God whose power is so complete, so absolute, that when He speaks, creation responds instantly. That’s not just poetic language—that’s the power and authority of God on full display. And to dismiss or water that down is, in my opinion, a failure to grasp—and fear—who God really is.

I think this issue is a kind of litmus test. If someone cannot accept what God has clearly said about how He created the world, it often reveals a deeper issue. Their view of God has already been shrunk. And when we start to shrink God, we stop taking His Word seriously. That’s the real danger—not just being wrong about the age of the earth but being wrong about the nature of the God who made it. If we have a proper fear of the Lord, then we will be too afraid to alter His words. If we don’t fear God, then we’ll feel free to reinterpret or dismiss His words whenever they seem inconvenient or out of step with the culture. A true fear of the Lord leads to reverence for what He has said, and a deep reluctance to twist or dilute it. For the creation account doesn’t just tell us that God created. Creation, as Genesis describes it, displays the creative, intelligent, all-powerful strength of God, revealing a God who speaks, and things happen. That’s a God to be feared.

The second way we gain the fear of the Lord, according to Proverbs 2, is by, “listening closely to wisdom and directing your heart to understanding; furthermore, if you call out to insight and lift your voice to understanding, if you seek it like silver and search for it like hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and discover the knowledge of God.”

Do you consider God’s Word to be full of treasure?

If we view God’s Word as being something we need to seek for like silver or hidden treasure, then we will make learning it our priority. The only way we “will understand the fear of the Lord and discover the knowledge of God” is by making the effort. 

So many people treat God’s word so casually. They may read a verse or two, read a quick devotional or listen to worship music, but they do not dig into God’s Word like they are digging for silver or hidden treasure.

Our world is full of distractions. Every moment of our lives can be filled with amusements and entertainment, so unless we are determined to do so, we will not make time for seeking God’s Word.

This lack of engagement in Scripture has created multitudes of problems with Christianity. People read so little of the Bible that they think it’s full of contradictions. Just like discounting the creation account, they discount so many other parts of God’s Word.

People are also easily misled into thinking incorrect things about God. Instead of going to the Bible and seeing what it actually says, so many people believe what a popular pastor or the internet tells them. This has led to a grave misunderstanding of God’s Word. But as Proverbs says, we need to direct our hearts to understand. All the answers to all of life’s questions are found in the wisdom of Scripture. We simply need to read it and believe it to find them.

If we want to grow in the fear of the Lord and discover the knowledge of God, then we must make the fear of the Lord our priority. We must put forth the effort to understand God’s word. We must not only read God’s Word, but we must believe what we’ve read, accept it as it is written, and store it in our hearts, so we don’t forget it. As Psalm 119:11 says, “I have treasured your word in my heart so that I may not sin against you.”

Then we will have a correct understanding of the fear of the Lord. Then we will understand who God is and who we are apart from Him. For example, as Ephesians 2:1 says, we “were dead in [our] trespasses and sins,” but we are made into new creations in Christ, “created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do,” as Ephesians 2:10 says.

So let us walk in the proper fear of the Lord, pressing on to follow Him, growing in wisdom and understanding, believing His word. Only then will we understand who God wants us to become as we follow Christ. As 2 Corinthians 7:1 says, “Let us cleanse ourselves from every impurity of the flesh and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.”

Prayer:

Heavenly Father, we desire to grow in our understanding of who You are. Please help us, by Your Holy Spirit, to accept Your Word as You have written it. Help us not to alter it, but to believe it and treasure it in our hearts, so that we may not sin against You. Thank You for Your forgiveness and mercy when we sometimes fail to do this well. We love You and praise You. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.