Paul was a lucky man. At least, he still knew what it is to fear the Lord. Most people consider themselves lucky because they do not fear God anymore. Sadly, many people have heard about God in their youth in such an unspiritual manner that they have not learned to ‘fear’ God, but simply became frightened of Him. I think it is a cunning trick of the devil to inspire people to scare others with a frightening God, instead of teaching them to fear God.
Fearing God is: being filled with childlike awe for Father. This does not frighten us, instead it makes us feel safe! At the same time, we know Father is not to be trifled with. But this is something we would not like either. For what He says, must be done and can be done, because - if He requires it of us - He will also provide the possibility to do it.
Those who become deeply convinced of this, will feel intensely happy and secure, but on the other hand it also makes them very restless. For everywhere around us, we see people who have substituted the Eternal One by a sweet ‘dear Lord’, and we also see people who have arrived at the deceptive conclusion that God is dead and therefore not to be reckoned with at all in daily life. These people still maintain some religiosity, but in the presence of others they are ashamed of their faith. Consequently, by their spineless attitude they prevent others from seeing anything of the glory of the Lord.
But who has come to know the fear of the Lord, has no peace of mind until he has got the chance to tell others that Jesus died for them as well.