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A sharing by Helen Chang for this song:

Given the scary idea of the word fear, I was relieved to hear that perfect love drives out fear in 1 John 4:18, when I first heard of it at school. Then as the exhortation to fear God became apparent in the scriptures, I have found that it is a topic that even most Christians shy away from. The reason for this, so I often heard, is that it’s a scary idea that it sounds negative, therefore we must be positive and pursue the love for God. Hopefully with more love for God, then all would be well.

Yet in practice, as I went on to experience God’s dealing with me and with others around me, I realised that the fear of God is very much part and parcel of our love for God because these are the two sides of the coin. In Exodus 20:20, Moses said to the Israelites, ‘...that the fear of Him may be before you so that you do not sin.’! Wasn’t this the solution for them to avoid death so as to live? If they had feared God, wouldn’t they have obeyed and not grumbled, thus ending up in death (I Corinthians 10:10)? Is obeying God not the outward expression of loving Him? I was greatly refreshed to realise that, in fact, Abraham obeyed God because he feared God (Genesis 22:12)! So the attitude and action of his obedience, which was reckoned as faith, actually came from his fear of God within.

I took the warning and sought the ongoing renewing of His spirit so that with the deepening of the fear of God at heart, there would be a safeguard against wrongful desires to lure within. Wouldn’t this keep us from falling into temptation repeatedly? It is my earnest prayer that all my dear friends may be encouraged to follow this path to holiness as without it no one can see God (Hebrew 12:14)!