Different Things God is teaching Me

Fear to Love

~FEAR TO LOVE

No, I don't mean being afraid to love. I'm talking about "the fear of the Lord": Fearing the Lord so we can honor and love Him all the more. With God's grace, we can realize that fearing (when it comes to our relationship with God) is not the same as being terrified. You may have heard of it before: That the fear of the Lord is a "healthy fear".
One of the good pictures that have been given to us concerning understanding this paradox/irony/mystery is comparing the fear of God to that of Niagara Falls or the Alps. These artistic pieces of nature are majestic, powerful, and dangerous to behold; treated and treaded lightly might mean serious injury to ourselves, even death.

Another way (picture, facet) the Lord has enabled me to see and better understand how "loving" and "fearing" Him DO go hand-in-hand is this past week when I went to to visit one of my best friends, being hosted and so well cared for and blessed by his parents' hospitality.
On one night, the thought occurred to me: I have the ability to rob these good friends of mine and do something devastatingly shameful...OR, I can fulfill their love and faith in the person they believe me to be by not violating their trust.
I wasn't tempted; to disappoint my friends by doing something shameful, harmful to them was the furthest thing and desire from my mind at that point! To even have the thought passing by terrified me! Even though the thought occurred to me, in a sense, the idea itself was unthinkable to me! The fact that if I did something to compromise their trust and confidence in me would bring great shame and deep hurt, brought great terror at the thought if I should commit such a thing.
I say all that (and I can only hope I'm saying it articulately dear reader) to show that this is a "healthy fear"; the kind of fear we ought to have before God. To fear to violate my friends' love and trust is the guardrail that keeps me safe to love them all the more. I don't contemplate or dwell on a guardrail when I'm looking out over the beautiful Bryce Canyon; I simply lean into it and trust in it.
In short, what I'm trying to explain is that just as it would terrify us to imagine violating the love and trust of those we are drawn to (girlfriend, sibling, parent, grandparent, etc.) and have a deep relationship with...so our "fear" should be towards God who loves us so deeply and intimately beyond our fathoming or limit of understanding; we would not want to violate His trust yet I know I often do. I know I am not at that place yet where I fear-to-love Him like I do my friends. I need a lot of work on that, and it is something I can be ever praying and practicing toward the Lord more.