Who/What Do You Fear?

I was on a bus this morning. The driver was talking on the phone. The bus shook violently when the driver accelerated. The brakes made an awful hissing noise when they were applied. I was afraid that we may be in an accident. I had the opportunity to get off the bus, but I chose to stay on all the way to my office. I had faith that the driver, and the bus would deliver me safely to my destination.


Last night I had the pleasure of discussing the first chapter of Isaiah with a fellow Christian and close friend. We got stuck on something that didn't seem too significant to me when I had read it in the past. The idea of fear, and in particular fear that comes from God. The idea of fearing God is really tough because God's wrath is real, but at the same time, we have faith in God's love, and his desire not to cause us harm, but rather to welcome us to spend eternity in his presence. I never liked to think of God as being angry. It's tough to get your mind around, but if you are disobedient, He will be upset.

A few years back, while working for the White Sox minor league system, I lived in a suburban community just outside of Birmingham, Alabama. (For those of you who aren't familiar with the southern part of the United States, it is often referred to as the "Bible Belt". It's a very conservative area that is completely different from the big cities like New York, Chicago and Los Angeles.) While in this hyper-conservative area, I had a discussion with a young lady whom I had become good friends with. Her father was the pastor of a mega-church in New Orleans. This particular discussion led to the end of our friendship. It was quite unfortunate.

Our conversation was specifically about people who hear the word of God, and choose not to believe. (You know, things like if a missionary introduces someone to the word of God, how much do they have to hear to make a heartfelt choice to reject or accept God...that type of stuff) I don't really even want to get into that here or now. It wasn't what made me struggle to love my friend. I struggled to love my friend because she said that God would be upset with someone, and turn from them and be truly angered by them. She was right...I just didn't want to believe her. I think my problem was that if it were possible for God to be so upset with me, then I was in trouble because I had done a lot of wrong against Him, and know that I will continue to sin, no matter how hard I try not to.

I don't know that I had enough faith in God's grace. I believed that He loves, and forgives me...but for everything? If he is capable of being even just a little mad, then he will surly be very upset with me. God's grace takes care of that though...if we humble ourselves before the Lord, then He is enough. It's like an earthly fathers love, with some mysticism added in. You can do wrong in your fathers eyes, and he may be upset with you, but he will still love you when you humble yourself before him, and apologize. The problem with this analogy is that earthly fathers are men, and are not perfect like God, so they often do not accept their son or daughter no matter what they do. Sometimes they are not even existent in the lives of their children. God is a perfect father.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this topic. The bible clearly states that God gets upset with disobedience, but it is up to some degree of interpretation as to what it looks like when God is upset. Please leave your comment about this, whether you are a Christian or not, I would love your thoughts!