The connection of fear and service cannot be missed. Worldly fear brings bondage and hinders Christian service; yet godly fear encourages the believer to serve the Lord in righteousness. In our passage, fear is yoked together with truthful and sincere service. Three different verses in 1 Samuel chapter 12 make the same connection (1 Samuel 12:14, 20, 24). In Psalm 2:11, we are admonished to “serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling.” According to Hebrews 12:28, we should “serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.” The fear of the Lord points forward to a time of judgment and reward. A man who refuses to fear God will never serve God with a sincere heart and pure motives.
Learning to fear the Lord yields great results in our daily walk with Him. Some facets of man’s relationship with the Lord change over time and through the seasons. Yet, one thing that has remained constant from the very beginning concerns God’s call upon His people to fear Him. How vital is the fear of God? The Bible refers to it as “the whole duty of man.” Some Bible teachers have tried to lessen the severity of this truth by saying that this fear merely refers to reverencing God, yet Hebrews 12:28 presents the fear of God and reverence as two separate and distinct actions. God’s people are to fear the Lord as the Creator of all things and the One who will one day bring all things into judgment. As saints of God, we will never please the Lord until we first learn to fear Him (Deuteronomy 4:10).
Contrary to today’s all-inclusive teachings, no one comes into this world as a child of God. In fact, the Bible plainly teaches that God becomes the Father of only those who trust Christ as personal Saviour. This new relationship between the Father and His children results from a personal, conscious, willing decision. As the Father of His children, God at times finds it necessary to chasten (or correct) believers. No chastening is enjoyable, especially that from an all-knowing Father. Unfortunately, when God begins administering His corrective hand, far too many Christians quit. Consequently, those who quit on the Lord never experience the by-product of God’s chastening—“the peaceable fruit of righteousness.” Christians should never take the grace of God in vain by thinking that simply being saved pleases the Lord. God wants and expects much more. His chastening hand confirms the believer’s wrongdoing and directs him in the right direction. When God cares enough to correct a man’s wrongdoing, it is an uncaring response to quit. The believer who loves the Lord will accept the correction and grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ.
