A Prayer about the Fear that Changes All of Our Fears

Do you fear the Lord, or are you afraid of the Lord?

Oh fear the Lord, you his saints, for those who fear him have no lack. Psalm 34:9

Holy Father,

We confess, especially in our culture, 

which loves to focus on your 

“nearness to the brokenhearted” (Ps. 34:18), 

we often forget to focus on growing 

in the “fear of the Lord.” 

Some of us also have experienced upbringings 

or ministry leaders 

who darkly threatened us with the Lord’s wrath 

in messages filled with shame and condemnation 

but utterly lacking in the equally true reality 

of your mercy and forgiveness for our sins. 

Help us to settle into a place 

of an appropriate fear of the Lord 

that settles all of our fears.* 

To fear you as our Father, 

the one who has loved and adopted us 

is to desire to please you, 

to honor you, 

to recognize that you are greater 

than all of our fears. 

Because you are the Sovereign, the King, 

who rules over all, 

our souls tremble appropriately 

as we approach you 

even as we claim a hope 

based in the death and resurrection of your Son 

that you will admit us into your presence. 

Holy Father, grow in us a “holy fear.” 

Such fear “delivers us from all our fear” 

and reminds us that you provide all we need (Ps. 34:4, 9). 

Amen.

Read Psalm 34; Matthew 10:28; Proverbs 1:7; Rev. 15:4.

*For a brilliant and readable book on this topic, I highly recommend A Holy Fear: Trading Lesser Fears for the Fear of the Lord by Christina Fox.