...more on wisdom and the fear of the lord

"there is this point of reality where we begin our fellowship, our friendship, our communion with God. when we come into this sweet relationship, we begin to learn astonished reverance, breathless adoration, awesome fascination, lofty admiration...of the attributes of God and something of the breathless silence that we know when God is near. all these things, coming from the divine presence add up to what the bible refers to as the "fear of the lord." the fear of God is that "astonished reverence" it comes any where from -the terror of a guilty soul before a holy God -to the fascinated "rapture" of the worshipping soul. the reverential fear of God mixed with love and fascination and astonishment and devotion is the most enjoyable state the human soul can know. This fear isnt of the earthly kind -fear of invasion, terrorism, fear of the collapse of civilization...men think they know what fear is, this fear is an awe and reverance of a loving and holy God. that kind of fear of God is a spiritual thing and can only be brought by the presence of God. when the Holy Spirit came at pentecost, there was a great fear upon all the people, yet they weren't afraid of anything. a child of God made perfect in love, has no fear because perfect love casts out fear (1 john 4). yet he or she is a person of all persons who most fears God. the presence of God in our midst -bringing a sense of Godly fear and reverance -this is largely missing today. it is someting that cannot be induced it cannot be compared to a superstitious dread. the true fear of God is a beautiful thing, for it is worship, it is love, it is veneration. it is a high moral happiness because God is. it is a delight so great that if God were not, the worshiper would not want to be, either. he or she could easily pray "my God, continue to be as thou art, or let me die! i cannot think of any other God but thee!" true worship is to be so personally and hopelessly in love with God that the idea of transfer of affection never even remotely exists. that is the meaning of the the fear of God.

-AW Tozer, Whatever Happened to Worship?