The Ogre God

Many believers secretly feel about God, like the slothful servant said of his master, “Thou art a hard man.” Many children of God think their God is a meanie, just looking for another excuse to burn them in hell. Sadly true. Their praise has the desperate feel of flattery to a dictator. “Maybe if I’m nice to Him he won’t destroy me.” Though Christ suffered and died to wash away their sins, they seem to feel something they dare not admit even to themselves: He has something else to hold against them. For them, the cross just makes their predicament worse. The gospel they embrace is most definitely not “good news.”

Is this the fear of God? No, it is the fear of death and hell. The fear of the Lord comes from an encounter with a love that shocks us out of our unbelief. Have you ever stood close to a powerful waterfall and felt the exhilaration of fearful wonder? That is similar. I saw a film of hikers on a mountain near Mt. St. Helens on the day of its eruption. When the mountain exploded, one on the hikers fell backwards in astonishment, overcome by the vision and close proximity of such power. That is similar.

Stand on Mt Calvary where the sin of the world is canceled, death is destroyed, and forgiveness is secured for all mankind, and you may stagger under the trauma of bewilderment. The psalmist said, “There is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared.” The fear of God that is the “beginning of wisdom”, “the beginning of understanding,” and indeed “the whole counsel of wisdom,” comes of being loved beyond comprehension. It is a love so great that it overwhelms every neuron and leaves us blinking in the dazzling light of outrageous grace.

He who came to “deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage,” is not about to use the fear of death and hell to draw us to Himself. He boasts, “behold, I have the keys to death and hell,” and also says “fear not little flock, it is the Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom.”

Praise and thanksgiving are richest when we know that He has saved us forever. When we understand that He means it when he says, “No man shall pluck them out of my hand.” We praise a God who is worthy of all glory because he loved us to His death with all His big heart.