Then Fear Came On

Then fear came on all who dwelt around them;

and all these sayings were discussed

throughout all the hill country of Judea.

Luke 1:65, NKJV

Do you know what true fear is?

Just to be quite honest, there are a couple of things that completely unnerve me. Sharks in the ocean. Mice. The creepy piano theme from Halloween. Not much else. I've known people who were afraid of heights, afraid of dogs, afraid of crowds, afraid of closed in spaces. I suppose we've all been afraid of the dark at one time or another. But do we know what true fear is, and do we have it?

The birth of John the Baptist heralded a new day for Israel, a Spiritual shift in the plan of God for His people. Prophetic utterance had fallen silent 400 years before. No one had any vision or revelation, and the people were going astray. They served God with their mouths, going through the motions of obedience, but their hearts were far from God. In truth they served themselves to please themselves, and relegated God to rituals of hand-washing and holy days. All that changed when an old man and an old woman brought a miracle baby into the world--and God was done messing with people's minds.

When Zacharias came out of the temple mute, everyone knew he had seen a visitation from heaven, they just didn't know what. Now nine months later, his silence was broken with praise to God, and a prophetic utterance promising the arrival of their long awaited Messiah, the redeemer and savior of Israel.

At first, the people who witnessed these things marveled. They were amazed. But then the gospel writer tells us that marvel turned to fear in their hearts. The Psalms and Proverbs encourage the fear of the Lord--it is the beginning of wisdom, knowledge and understanding. A healthy reverence for who God really is and what God can really do. When we hear about fearing the Lord, immediately that's where our mind goes, because God is all good and righteous and holy and loving. Why should we be afraid? But the language of the Bible is very plain--fear means fear. It means terror. It means dread. It means from this point forward, we will never be the same again.

Think about it. God is not just a power source in the universe; God is the powerful source of the universe. God started start. The lights of the cosmos are voice activated, and will stay on until God turns them off. God has the whole world, and you and me, in His hands. With the flash of His eyes, the flick of His finger...even with the simplest thought of His mind, God can change everything! You breathe until God takes away the air. You live until God thumps you in the head. You have a certain number of days, and then an appointment with destiny. And God is in control of it all!

So what do you do when God starts moving, when God starts speaking? Are the words and works of God something to be cavalier about, something to be handled and responded to lightly? When God speaks do we laugh from the tickle of our spiritual fancy, or do we fall on our face and worship God? When God steps up and acts on our behalf, doing the miraculous that we thought impossible, do we take it for granted? Or do we realize and acknowledge that something--No, SOMEONE infinitely greater than us is working all around us?

When God acts, people need to pay attention. We need to recognize the Hand of God, reverence the Presence of God, and fear the Power of God. He should be feared...and He should be discussed. But never ignored.