Based on Judges 6:1-23 (New King James Version)
“Then the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord. So the Lord delivered them into the hand of Midian for seven years, and the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel. Because of the Midianites, the children of Israel made for themselves the dens, the caves, and the strongholds which are in the mountains. So it was, whenever Israel had sown, Midianites would come up; also Amalekites and the people of the East would come up against them. Then they would encamp against them and destroy the produce of the earth as far as Gaza, and leave no sustenance for Israel, neither sheep nor ox nor donkey. For they would come up with their livestock and their tents, coming in as numerous as locusts; both they and their camels were without number; and they would enter the land to destroy it. So Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites, and the children of Israel cried out to the Lord. And it came to pass, when the children of Israel cried out to the Lord because of the Midianites, that the Lord sent a prophet to the children of Israel, who said to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘I brought you up from Egypt and brought you out of the house of bondage; and I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of all who oppressed you, and drove them out before you and gave you their land. Also I said to you, ‘I am the Lord your God; do not fear the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell.’ But you have not obeyed My voice.’ ’ Now the Angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth tree which was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon threshed wheat in the winepress, in order to hide it from the Midianites. And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him, and said to him, ‘The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor!’ Gideon said to Him, ‘O my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.’ Then the Lord turned to him and said, ‘Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent you?’ So he said to Him, ‘O my Lord, how can I save Israel? Indeed my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.’ And the Lord said to him, ‘Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat the Midianites as one man.’ Then he said to Him, ‘If now I have found favor in Your sight, then show me a sign that it is You who talk with me. Do not depart from here, I pray, until I come to You and bring out my offering and set it before You.’ And He said, ‘I will wait until you come back.’ So Gideon went in and prepared a young goat, and unleavened bread from an ephah of flour. The meat he put in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot; and he brought them out to Him under the terebinth tree and presented them. The Angel of God said to him, ‘Take the meat and the unleavened bread and lay them on this rock, and pour out the broth.’ And he did so. Then the Angel of the Lord put out the end of the staff that was in His hand, and touched the meat and the unleavened bread; and fire rose out of the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened bread. And the Angel of the Lord departed out of his sight. Now Gideon perceived that He was the Angel of the Lord. So Gideon said, ‘Alas, O Lord God! For I have seen the Angel of the Lord face to face.’ Then the Lord said to him, ‘Peace be with you; do not fear, you shall not die.’”
Is fear bad? No, especially if it is taken and used as the Bible teaches. Fear within itself is not about being afraid, or about terror, at least they type that the Bible speaks about. It’s not the type of terror or fright that prohibits you from getting close to what you should get close to or look to be together with what you need. Fear is something healthy and even good, but everything that makes it either good or bad is the direction and what it really is. Biblical fear is about reverence, a deep respect, and also, a loyalty, by not wanting to betray that which you fear. So then, this is what we are talking about that we relate to this holy fear that we should have towards God.
What did Israel do wrong for God to give them over to the Midianites? Israel feared the wrong thing. The Lord told them: ‘I am the Lord your God; do not fear the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell.’ But what did they do? They did precisely the contrary to what God told them to do, and they feared and worshipped the gods of the Amorites, among other gods. Israel was unfaithful to God because they feared the wrong thing. They feared people and the idols rather than the God that had done everything for them. Israel forgot the holy covenant they had made with Him. And that’s why this evil came upon them.
Fear is good, but the correct feeling must be felt, and not towards other gods and men, but rather, towards the true and real God, to the Lord God Almighty. We need to fear Him. That’s what Gideon did. Gideon feared God, and thanks to that fear was that God revealed Himself even more to him, and saw the Lord face to face, and did not die, because his heart was right before God. And God used Gideon to free Israel miraculously from the hand of the Midianites. And this is the same thing we should do: fear the Lord.
There are many that err thinking that we don’t need to fear the Lord. This is what the Word teaches: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.” Proverbs 1:7. Why does wisdom start this way? Because when a person legitimately fears the Lord, they start to take God’s opinion into consideration, they start to care about what God thinks, and that is the beginning of divine wisdom. Because, if we are rational (even seeing it from a very human point of view), is it not worth more to us to be on the side of Him that is higher than everything else in the universe, the One that is superior to the idols and to men? This is what the Lord Himself said: “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” Matthew 10:28. Of whom was the Lord talking about? He was not talking about the enemy (because Satan has no power in the coming judgment), but rather, of God the Father. This is what the Lord said also: “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’” Matthew 7:21-23. That’s why we need to fear the Lord, because if we do not look for what really pleases Him, the error cannot be made right in the judgement. It will be too late then. There will be many surprises on that day because people did not fear the Lord, and did not look to do His will, but rather, they let themselves be guided by their own opinion, they feared the wrong thing. This is the Biblical counsel the Word gives: “Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.” 2 Corinthians 5:9-10. It is necessary to fear and love the Lord so that we not only enter the kingdom of God, but also, so we can attain through Christ the eternal rewards God has for those that love and fear Him. So then, are you fearing God? Lord bless! John