Hammerhead

Proverbs 14:27 The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, that one may turn away from the snares of death. His eye was about the size of an orange. A big one. His dorsal fin proudly shot straight up in the water, like a rooster shooting out his chest, as he was letting everything that had breath and eyes know that this was his territory. He swam straight through our bait spread without even glancing at the display of fresh fish to eat. He wasn't hungry. He was just checking out what we were doing in his area above the reef off the shore of Islamorada, Fl. The huge Hammerhead swam about 15 feet off the stern of our boat with that one cold, black eye seemingly staring into the bottom of my soul. The most conservative and educated guess was that he was about 14.5 feet long. It didn't take any guess work to figure out who was the King of that patch of water, and none of us would have dared to jump in that water with him. Fear is often a life preserving thing. Fear that keeps us from death is a helpful fear indeed. And fear was screaming from within side me, "backup from leaning over the stern" as he swam past us. A healthy fear of the Lord is a fountain of life that will save you from death says Solomon in proverbs 14:27. What does that mean? I didn't think we were supposed to fear you might be thinking. So which is it: to fear or not to fear? Both. Just as none of us would have dared approach that shark out of God given natural fear, none of us in our flesh would ever dare to approach a Holy God. Certain, sudden death would absolutely positively occur as the Holiness of God purifies and sanctifies the stains of sin by a refining fire. Our sinful self, in frightening fear of our due judgement before the Lord, is what Solomon is saying is a fountain of life. Fear of the Lord keeps us humble and gives us a right disposition of ourselves which keeps us dependent on His mercy and grace. When we truly see ourselves as a "dead man walking before God", we are able to call on Christ as savior. It amazes me how many people claimed to have been saved, but can't tell you from what they were saved or why they need to be saved. They have no fear of the Lord, just a desire to fit into a Christian culture. We are saved from ourselves. A right, reverent fear of God instills in us a deep understanding of our deserved judgement of death. This in turn yields a need to be made right before God by a mode that He has deemed appropriate. When he finally gets us past our false sense that we can "be right" in our own strength, Christ becomes the only answer. The deeper fear we have of our sinful self and our due judgement before God, the more fuel we will have to praise Christ and experience the comfort of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit that is not afraid of anything as it has total dominion over all things created. This is what Paul is alluding to in 2 Timothy 1:8 when He says "God did not give us a spirit of fear but of power and love and self control." Even after we are saved, a reverent fear of God enables our obedience which portrays His glory and righteousness to the world. If you have no true fear of the God who spoke creation into existence and sacrifices His son so that rebels could be loved, you will miss the comfort He provides from that fear in the form of His Holy Spirit. The fountain of life is simply enjoying Him as we joyfully and obediently walk through this life in anticipation of being with him forever. Have you any true fear if Him? If no, that would explain why you might lack comfort from Him as well. They go hand in hand.