What does the Bible say about fear?

The secret of it all is plain. "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight." Creature intelligence is of no value for the soul, for eternity, for relationship with God. It begins, and must begin, with fearing Him — the True and the Good, the Righteous and the Holy. There is repentance no less than faith, and therefore trembling at His Word, the direct opposite of judging it and trusting in self, justifying ourselves instead of God.

A man may be counted wise in the learning of the schools, or in diplomacy, or in military strategy, but if he does not have the fear of the Lord, he has no true wisdom. He is out of touch with what really matters. He has not adjusted himself to God. He is building on sand and not on the rock.

"The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is safe." The fear of man is born of unbelief. The Christian who fears man shows clearly that he is not looking to the Lord, but to man. The fear of man surely brings a snare; it leads to pleasing men and praising men.

How dreadful a thing that through fear of offending a mere man, I may find myself in the position of positively offending God! The only safety from such snares is a dependent, genuine trust in the Lord.

Lastly, when the guilty people, bowed beneath the judgment of God, chastened and repentant but near despair, hear these words spoken at the end of their time of trial — "Comfort, comfort My people" — we hear this word "Fear not" repeated and multiplied in echo after echo. Fear not, My love will comfort you, I will help you, I will strengthen you, I will be with My servant. Have I not redeemed you? Am I not with you? The entire latter part of Isaiah has this comforting word from God as a refrain (Isa. 41:10, 13, 14; 43:1, 5; 44:2; 51:7; 54:4).

They forgot His glory in their own anxiety and selfishness. They measured Jesus by their own weakness. A great storm and a sinking ship are serious difficulties to a man. "Lord, save us; we are perishing," they cried, as they woke Him; and He got up and rebuked the winds and the sea. Little faith leaves us as fearful for ourselves as we are dim witnesses of His glory whom the most unruly elements obey.

I think the Lord often works to deliver us from our fears before He delivers us from our foes. Here is a man who was delivered from the fear of the trouble, before he was delivered from the trouble. It is the discovery of what God is.

When the reality of guilt is brought home to a man he cannot help being filled with dread… But to every soul whose confidence is in Christ and in the precious blood He shed, the divine message is, "Fear not." Such people are entitled to know that their sins have been fully atoned for and put away forever… Dread is at once replaced by love. "There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment." The Holy Spirit, who is then given to them, is not the spirit of fear, but the Spirit of sonship by whom they cry, "Abba! Father!" (Rom. 8:15).

Godly fear, of course, is another subject, involving a healthy, reverent regard for the greatness of God; but a tormenting fear of possible judgment is dismissed when the love of God is rightly known.

It is this, therefore, which is to produce the fear and trembling; not selfish dread, but the sense of our responsibility to Him to whom we owe everything and whose our life is. There is plenty to make us serious in such work as this, but nothing to discourage us. If God has undertaken to work in us in this way, that is ample security for our success.