Reflection
Fear of the Lord is based in awe that is joyful rather than frightening. It gives us a sense of the greatness of God and sparks in us a sense of amazement. When we realize how wondrous God is, we start to grasp God’s overwhelming otherness. It urges us to gain a deeper intimacy with God. It generates a true worship and profound respect and wonder. We come to a point in our faith where we have a fear that is reluctant to act in ways that are contrary to the spirit of God’s will, out of love rather than out of fear. Fear of the Lord is the gift of reverence for God as our creator. It allows us to remember exactly who we are and who God is. It is a fundamental recognition that there is no life without God, and that one’s most fervent wish is to always have a relationship with God.
Prayer
O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you.
Psalm 63
Action
Meditate on your relationship with God and your understanding of God’s revelation of Godself in all things and experiences in your life.
Suggested Reading
Let all the earth be in awe of God; let all the people of the world be in awe of God.
Psalm 33:8.
Stand in awe of God.
Ecclesiastes 5:1-7
Let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe.
Hebrews 12:28
Fear of the Lord is the gift of the Holy Spirit through whom we are reminded of how small we are before God and of God’s love and that our good lies in humble, respectful and trusting self-abandonment into God’s hands. This is fear of the Lord: abandonment in the goodness of God who loves us so much.
Pope Francis
He who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead; his eyes are closed.
Albert Einstein
Gratitude bestows reverence, allowing us to encounter everyday epiphanies, those transcendent moments of awe that change forever how we experience life and the world.
John Milton
If you can’t be in awe of Mother Nature, there’s something wrong with you.
Alex Trebek
Awe enables us to see in the world intimations of the divine,
to sense in small things the beginning of infinite significance,
to sense the ultimate in the common and the simple, to feel
in the rush of the passing the stillness of the eternal.
Abraham Joshua Heschel
Religious awe is the same organic thrill which we feel in a forest at twilight, or in a mountain gorge.
William James