The Right Kind of Fright

Martin Luther once pointed out that the difference between the Devil and God was the point at which they frightened you. God frightens us in order to bring us to our senses, the Devil frightens us, having first numbed them.

God affrights us upon our first encounter with Him.

“I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid… (Genesis 3:10)

God’s presence in this world frightens us by first revealing our sin, its devastating consequences, and its final destination. Afterwards, He comforts us with saving grace and an assurance of His great love.

The Devil runs his play in the opposite direction. First, he comforts us with smooth words. He makes us feel bold and secure.

But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God… (Genesis 3:4-5)

He minimises the fear of sin so that we run headlong into it.

Not long afterwards (sometimes years, sometimes only minutes later), he pulls back the curtain and affrights us with the shame and terrifying consequences of our sin, leaving us condemned in wretched guilt and despair.

Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. (Genesis 3:7)

As a characteristic of human nature, fear is inescapable. The question is not whether we will fear but who or what we will fear.

God is love, and those who fear Him really don’t have anything else to fear (1 John 4:18).

Those who do not fear God rightly are susceptible to a crippling fear of everything else, both within and without. This kind of fear has to do with punishment (1 John 4:18).

Not to be confused with an anxious heart, which all God’s saints experience, and for which God provides relief and assurance, a right fear of God includes both reverence and trembling. A reverence and trembling that leads to obedience. But where there is no reverence, there is only trembling.

Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs at the time to come. (Proverbs 31:25)

The mind that’s learning to fear God above all else is a mind that’s being set free from every other fear. It’s a mind that doesn’t mind so much what others think. It’s a mind that’s learning to say no to sin and think independently from the cliff-hanging herd. It’s a mind that’s being renewed day by day (Romans 12:2).

Let 2022 be a year where your mind is renewed by God. A year where your mind is set on His Word, governed by His Lordship, and set free from crippling guilt and every other fear of man.

A year where both heart and mind are renewed and transformed by the right kind of fright.