Joy of Fearing God was the title of the talks given by Jerry Bridges over a weekend I attended last year. I will share with you a little of the content of these talks. Those who attended were encouraged by Jerry’s presentation of the Word of God.

What kind of relationship can you have with someone you fear? A good one. Because to fear God is not to be afraid of Him. To fear God is a recognition of who God is and what He has done.

In thinking about who God is, we see in Isaiah 40 contemplations of God’s greatness. Verse 12 describes how God is so great that even all the water on the earth fills the hollow of His hand. 71% of the surface of the earthX-MX-Mozilla-Status: 0009en measure the deepest parts of the ocean, and the deepest we can measure is 10 kilometres deep.

Verse 12 and 26 illustrates the greatness of God with the illustration of God marking off the heavens with the breadth of His hand. The breadth of your hand is from the tip of the little finger to the tip of the thumb when outstretched, the average being 20-24 centimetres. God is so great that He can easily measure the heavens. We know of 100 billion galaxies in our universe and each galaxy holds 100 billion stars and God “calls them all by name”. God is so great.

It is this great God who is forgiving. He sent His Son to the cross to take our sins so that we can fear God and not be afraid of Him. The Bible is full of language which describes the greatness of God; and the compassion, mercy and grace of God.

When we recognise who God is and what He has done (this is the fear of God), we can trust Him. For those who do not recognise who God is, certainly have something to be afraid of. But, for the Christian, the more we know God, the more joy we have in the fear of God.

Denise Bray  ©