Instilling the Fear of God

 

Children are afraid of many things. Some of those fears are warranted, while others are hard to understand unless seen through the eyes of the fearful child.

Like many young children, the dark scares my two sons. Both of them refuse to go to sleep at night unless their bedroom lights are beaming in their tiny faces. Somehow they are able to fall asleep in their brightened rooms; it is then that I tiptoe in and turn out the lights. On the occasions the clicking switch wakes them up, they wake up screaming in terror because they are engulfed in darkness and  I have to turn the lights on again.

For those of us that have suffered with fear (adults and children) it can be a paralyzing and devastating experience. However, there is a fear that has the opposite effect; a fear that is frees and comforts its "victim"--the fear of the Lord.

When we tell our children that they must fear God, their undeveloped usually struggle with understanding how they can fear God and love Him at the same time; it's the ultimate contradiction in their minds. Yet, in the book of Psalms King David commands, "Come, you children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord" (Psalm 34:11 NKJV). King David had much insight and godly knowledge to share, and must have felt that the fear of the Lord was important to understand. 

Why is teaching our children the fear of the Lord so important? The Bible provides many answers: "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of all wisdom . . ." (Psalm 111:10 NKJV), "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge" (Proverbs 1:7 NKJV), "Then you will understand the fear of the Lord, And find the knowledge of God" (Proverbs 2:5 NKJV), "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding" (Proverbs 9:10 NKJV), "The fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom, And before honor is humility" (Proverbs 15:33 NKJV), "The fear of the Lord leads to life, And he who has it will abide in satisfaction; He will not be visited with evil" (Proverbs 19:23 NKJV).

The Bible clearly shows that we must teach our children to fear God, because if they fear Him they will be more vigilant in keeping His commands. Furthermore, if they truly learn to fear God they will be less likely to be tempted by evil; they will realize that there are consequences for disobedience.

One afternoon I was cleaning my house and noticed an eerie silent creeping through the house. For those of you who have young children, you know that is usually a bad sign. My daughter was quietly reading in her room, but my young sons were nowhere to be found. I began looking for them and when I yelled out to them, the silent answer was deafening. I ran from room to room as my heart pounded like a jack-hammer and my mind raced. 

As I blew into the kitchen and frantically searched the lower cabinets, I flung open the pantry door and saw two small bodies jolt upward. As they jumped with surprise and turned their heads toward me, all I saw were huge eyes and chocolate lips! They were so busted! bodies. Apparently they had  been sitting in the pantry eating chocolate the entire time I was imaging the worst and calling frantically to them. They instantly began to apologize while making their best efforts to rub the evidence from their naughty little faces. You see, they had a fear of Mama but only when I was able to see them. 

Unlike mamas all over the world (who really don't have eyes in the backs of their heads), we need remind our children that God sees everything they do. We can explain the power, strength, and omnipresence of God, revealing to them that God sees everything . . . all the time. Such knowledge of who He is and what He is capable of, will ignite a fear of disobeying a God that sees and hears all things. Further, in acknowledging His goodness with His power, this enables them to appreciate the fact that He is with them always and will never turn away. Yet the Bible says, "'[t]he face of the Lord is against those who do evil" (1Peter 3:12 NKJV). Therefore, when our children grasp their need for God and that God turns away when we do evil, they will seek to serve Him wholeheartedly in fear of Him turning away from them.

Just as my boys fear the darkness of the night, yet find security in the brightness of the light, we can teach them that they should fear God turning His light away when we walk in darkness, which would leave us in a dark place.

So, what are some practical ways that we can teach our children to fear God? Let's think about how we try to teach them to fear us and (in turn) respect us; we teach them this by showing them that there are consequences for their disobedient actions.

The Old Testament is filled with beautiful stories that have saturated children's Christian books for ages, such as Noah's Ark, Jonah in the Whale, Israelites on their journey to the Promised Land, etc. These stories reflect the blessing of God when we walk closely to Him, but they also reflect the consequences of disobeying God and having Him turn away from us--not a good thing! They are perfect examples in God's Word of why we should fear Him and obey Him.

Tonight at bedtime, when you are reassuring your children there is nothing to be afraid of, tell them this one essential exception. Tell them that fear can be a beautiful thing, only when it is fearing God and walking in all His ways. The Bible says, "But as for me, I will come into Your house in the multitude of Your mercy; In fear of You I will worship toward Your holy temple" (Psalms 5:7 NKJV). Let's teach our children to worship Him in all fear and admiration!