This book is one I will come back to over and over. It’s a powerful exploration of understanding the fear of the Lord. Most people either avoid this topic or only preach hell, fire, and brimstone so it was a very helpful approach to studying this topic. Something the church needs today as neither extremes are correct.

This is a much needed book. I think as Christians we often struggle with what it means to fear the Lord. One of my favorite verses recently is Proverbs 9:10: The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom

I think we have lost the awesome fear of the Lord. I know I had. I would pick any song to sing and bring to the body on a Sunday, as a worship leader, without thought to if it was sound doctrine or could lead anyone astray. I had no fear. But that is all changing. A filial fear is something we should all have for the Creator of the universe.

Don’t know what that means? Give this short book a read, seriously, you can read this in about forty-five minutes or less.

Here are a couple of quotes that stuck out to me:

“Sinful fear hates God and therefore acts sinfully. Right fear loves God and therefore has a sincere longing to be like him.”

“Like a fire in the heart the fear of the Lord consumes sinful desires, and it fuels holy ones.”

A copy of this book was given to me through Netgalley. All opinions are my own.

Reeves is a person I have enjoyed listening and reading throughout the years. He knows how to convey his message with clarity and this book is no exception. This book distinguishes biblical (godly) fear and sinful fear, and the distinction relies on the object and proper manner of fear. He uses Scripture to ground his ideas and sets practical examples; he carries the reader from theory to application in a classic Puritan fashion. I would recommend this book to any lay person wanting to know the basics of fearing the Lord in order to be able to put it in practice in no time.

When the fear of the Lord becomes central and most important, other fears subside. Here is the truth for every Christian who needs strength to rise above his or her anxieties, or who needs the strength to pursue unpopular but righteous course. The fear of the Lord is the only fear that imparts strength.

The fear of the Lord is most misunderstood among people and to be quite honest will never be completely understood because of the magnificence of God. This short study is foundational on why it is important to study and to apply these truths. The fear of the Lord starts with truth. Beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord. The following chapters will give you understanding on why, how and what.

Do Not be Afraid
Sinful Fear
Right Fear
Overwhelmed by the Creator
Overwhelmed by the Father
How to Grow In this Fear
The Awesome Church
Eternal Ecstasy

God desires us not to live in fear but to see fear in a new light. We all have fears. Our fears say something about us. Let it say the right thing. Highly recommend.

A special thank you to Crossway Publishing and Netgalley for the ARC and the opportunity to post an honest review

“The fear of God is not a state of mind you can guarantee with five easy steps. It is not something that can be acquired with simple self-effort. The fear of God is a matter of the heart.”
Quote from the book.

We, as a society, have so many fears that we don’t even know what it means to fear the Lord anymore. It confuses us because we think of God as just a loving God. Author Michael Reeves goes into great detail what it looks like as a Christian to fear the Lord and what sinful fear of Him is.

I graciously received an advance e-copy from Netgalley for review. All opinions are my own.

I understand this is Part 1 of 2 books on the fear of the Lord and is a shorter version of the 2nd part. Both release on the same day and for some readers this shorter version may be sufficient.

Fear is such a prominent emotion in our world. No wonder, as it was the first negative emotion demonstrated when Adam and Eve chose to eat the fruit that God had told them not too. And by all accounts the statement, "Do not be afraid" or similar appears 366 times in the Bible, one for every day including one for a leap year like in 2020.

And then 'fear' is often associated with an intimate relationship with God. But because we associate the term with such negative connotations we change it to 'reverence' or similar. Clearly, getting to the bottom of this much used term is essential to walking closely with the Lord.

Reeves does an excellent job differentiating the two: sinful fear and Godly fear. He also makes the point that 'fear' (because the English language does limit us) is the best term for one of the key emotional attributes towards God. Fear as in 'trembling' due to His greatness, His grandness, His immensity and His reckless love for us. It should make us tremble. Reeves states that it's in discovering this fear of the Lord that we are able to let go of the sinful fears that bind us.

In this season of Advent when we read a number of key chapters in Isaiah, I was quite struck by the verse in Chapter 11: 'and he will delight in the fear of the Lord'. We are supposed to delight in our fear. Wow. Not just too 'tremble' but to delight in it. I want that delight.

And this is where I felt this shorter version was a little limited: how do we learn to develop this delight?

So off to pre-order part 2 I go. But, please don't let this put you off as this is a very worthy exploration of the topic.

I was very fortunate to receive an early ebook copy from Crossway via NetGalley with no expectation of a favourable review.

First sentence: Boo! It’s one of the first words we enjoy. As children, we loved to leap out on our friends and shout it. But at the same time, we were scared of the dark and the monsters under the bed. We were both fascinated and repelled by our fears. And not much changes when we grow up: adults love scary movies and thrills that bring us face-to-face with our worst fears. But we also agonize over all the dreadful things that could happen to us: how we could lose our lives, health, or loved ones; how we might fail or be rejected. Fear is probably the strongest human emotion. But it baffles us. When we come to the Bible, the picture seems equally confusing: is fear a good thing or bad? Many times Scripture clearly views fear as a bad thing from which Christ has come to rescue us. Indeed, the most frequent command in Scripture is “Do not be afraid!” Yet, again and again in Scripture we are called to fear. Even more strangely, we are called to fear God. The verse that quickly comes to mind is Proverbs 9:10, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”

What Does It Mean To Fear the Lord? is SHORT but WEIGHTY. It is a theological gem examining many of the texts of Scripture concerning fear. There is a spiritually healthy--perhaps spiritually NECESSARY--fear of the LORD. There is an unhealthy--not spiritually beneficial or helpful--FEAR. There's a difference between FEARING GOD and fearing all the bajillion things of this world that can make us fearful, anxious, worried, panicky.

We live in an anxious society that has turned to medication and perhaps therapy (best case scenario) or to drugs, alcohol, gambling, etc. (worst case scenario) to "fix" this ANGST. Reeves argues that what we need--what we absolutely and fundamentally need--is FEAR OF THE LORD. This is a misunderstood and under-appreciated theological doctrine. Christians need to be taught, need to understand, exactly what it means to fear the LORD.

He writes, "With our society having lost God as the proper object of healthy fear, our culture is necessarily becoming more neurotic and anxious. In ousting God from our culture, other concerns—from personal health to the health of the planet—have assumed a divine ultimacy in our minds. Good things have become cruel and pitiless idols. The fact is that not all fear is the same, or unhealthy, or unpleasant. We must distinguish between different sorts of fear, between wrong fear and right fear. That is what we will do now. Then we can rejoice in the fact that the fear of God is not like fears that torment us."

One of my favorite quotes, "By opening our eyes to know God aright, the Spirit turns our hearts to fear him with a loving, filial fear. That is the fear that is appropriate for Christians, who are brought by the Son to be beloved, adopted children before their heavenly Father...It all means that we must keep a careful eye on how we think of God. For the very shape of the gospel we proclaim will tell of how we think of God. Think of the gospel presentation that only describes God as Creator and ruler: sin is no deeper a matter than breaking his rules; redemption is about being brought back under his rulership. Such a gospel could never impart a filial fear and wonder, for there is no mention of God’s fatherhood or our adoption in his Son. Such a gospel can only leave people with a fear of the Creator. Only when we are resolutely Christ-centered can we tell a richer, truer gospel. Only then does the story make sense that our sin is a deeper matter than external disobedience, that it is a relational matter of our hearts loving what is wrong. Only then will we speak of God the Father sending forth his Son that he might bring us as children into his family."

Other quotes:
But reorienting our fears and affections is a daily battle we must join. Left to our sinful fears of God, we will shrink from God in guilt and not enjoy his goodness. Left to our fear of man, we will wilt before every criticism, unable to enjoy real fellowship. And just as a right and happy fear of God is fostered by the truth, sinful fears grow in a bed of Satan’s lies. We must counter with the truth that drives out anxiety. Into the battlefield of our troubled hearts we send the promises of God. Safe in Christ, we testify to ourselves afresh that the Almighty is our compassionate Redeemer and loving Father, and that he is able, willing, and near to us as we call on him.
Where hell is the dreadful sewer of all sinful fears, heaven is the paradise of unconfined, maximal, delighted filial fear.
In fact, all fears are a foretaste. The sinful fears and dreads of unbelievers are the firstfruits of hell; the filial fears of Christians are the firstfruits of heaven. Now our fears are partial; then they will be unconfined. For now, Christians see in part, and so we love and rejoice only in part. We hang our heads knowing that moments of filial, trembling wonder are all too faint and all too few. But when we see him as he is, that ecstasy will be unimpaired and absolute.
It is the affection that expels spiritual lethargy. To grow in this sweet and quaking wonder at God is to taste heaven now.