The Goodness of God and the Fear of God :: Desiring God

The Goodness of God and the Fear of God

September 23, 2009  |  By: John Piper

Consider two important truths in Psalm 31:19.

Oh, how abundant is your goodness,
which you have stored up for those who fear you
and worked for those who take refuge in you,
in the sight of the children of mankind!

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John Piper offers a fresh insight into the idea of the fear of God.

He says that the fear of God is the fear of straying from Him which leads us back toward Him. Fearing God is, in Piper's understanding, a longing for God and a sense of desperation at the thought of not finding our shelter in Him.

It is, then an entirely different understanding of fear and a unique response. Instead of being repelled, we are drawn.

It is comparable to my understanding of the wrath of God. In my study of scripture, the wrath of God is less of an overt reaction to human stubbornness, self-will, and sin than an encounter between opposites. An object of intense velocity encounters an object of strong resistance. Sometimes, God is the wall against which our stubborn determination to sin is halted. Sometimes, our will is the wall that God's unstoppable force topples. Either way, God and truth win ... and that is essence of His wrath. He wins.

God is the unmovable object and the unstoppable force.

To the one fearing Him and trusting Him, it is a source of great comfort, but to the one resisting, it is quite disconcerting and potentially disastrous.

It is always a choice of alignment.