What is the purpose of fear? Why are we told that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom or understanding? What is the function of the word fear and our capacity to fear?
Think about how you view fear. I love a good scare. I went to a haunted house this year and it was lame because it simply wasn't scary... I also love roller coasters and the measurement for how good a roller coaster is is based on how terrified I am during the ride... If it doesn't illicit any feelings of 'WHOA' then it isn't doing its job. So, why do we have that capacity and why do we fill it with thrillers and rollers coasters?
Because God made us with the capacity to feel the effect he has on us. Fear points to his Glory. Fear of him shows how magnificent he truly is. When you read something like a detachment of soldiers falling at Jesus feet, or when you read about Daniel getting picked up by an angel and placed on his hands and knees because he fell flat after getting an eyefull of that angel's magnificence... that points to God. Ezekiel sitting by a river for seven days after being terrified from a vision of the Lord points to God's glory. Or Ezekiel being picked up by his hair and carried by an angel that is a little scary, but that also points to God's glory.
Fear helps us understand the greatness of God. Like standing on the top of a mountain and realizing that you could be a CEO, lawyer, professional athlete, world's greatest dad, or whomever, but if you slip it is over. You are small... the mountain is mighty. That is the effect fear should have on us. God is mighty... I am small. And then when he says things like "you are adopted into my kingdom. I call you son." That should blow your mind. Fear is good. I feel sad for people that shy from this teaching in the bible because they want a god they can relate to. A buddy. Be careful that you respect him for being so magnificent. He is mighty we are not. He is big. Read any encounters that the prophets have with God to cure you of not fearing God. (Daniel 10-12, Ezekiel 1-3, Isaiah 6, Rev 5) Any of those accounts will show you that fear is God's gift to us to show us what he is like. And I am willing to venture to say that no roller coaster, or skydiving, or any thrill you can find, can possibly compare to the flood of emotions that will accompany seeing Him face to face.
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