There are plenty of things you can fear. Take your pick: death, enemies, poison ivy, a week-old tuna sandwich, chipmunks with an attitude, 3 kids with a spatula, and a ride in a plane.

However, there’s only one fear God commands us to have. It’s the only fear we should possess. It’s the fear of God.

Writer and preacher A. W. Tozer describes it this way:

“When we come into this sweet relationship of communion with God, we are beginning to learn astonished reverence, breathless adoration, awesome fascination, lofty admiration of the attributes of God, and something of the breathless silence that we know when God is near. You may never have realized it before, but all of those elements in our perception and consciousness of the divine Presence add up to what the Bible calls ‘the fear of God.’”

I don’t know if you’ve experienced much “astonished reverence” or “lofty admiration” lately. Perhaps you’ve allowed God and His attributes to simply blend in with the busy fabric of your existence.

If so, it’s important to pause and reflect on the God . . .

• whom Abraham obeyed, even to the point of nearly sacrificing his son Isaac. An angel stopped him from his act of obedience and told him, “Now I know that you fear God” (Genesis 22:12).

• whom Joshua knew exhibits great power so “that you might always fear the Lord your God” (Joshua 4:24).

• whom Moses said tested His chosen people “so that the fear of God will keep you from sinning” (Exodus 20:20).

• who urges us to “fear God and give Him glory” (Revelation 14:7) because judgment lies ahead.

Do you fear God in these ways? Are you willing to sacrifice your all for Him? To give Him all the glory?

Tozer says an interesting thing happens when we are filled with a true fear of God: “I believe that the reverential fear of God . . . is the most enjoyable state and the most purifying emotion the human soul can know.”

Do you know that kind of fear?

The joy of living day by day is that you never know what each day holds. That certainly is the case with me. Life is more than a box of chocolates. Helping others makes it that way. Perhaps I will tell you about it sometime.

Warmest Light Everyone!