The key to treasure

Who doesn’t love the idea of unlocking treasure? I am a sucker for a treasure hunt movie. If only our family clock hid a key that unlocked a vault in Westminster Abbey…

Isaiah gives us the key to unlocking treasure worth far more than the Rishi Sunak fortune.

He will be the sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the Lord is the key to this treasure.

Isaiah 33:6

The key is the fear of the Lord. Now, there’s a phrase that jars on modern ears. How could fear be a good thing? Doesn’t fear belong to Old Testament times, to the era before Christ?

What then do we make of this New Testament verse? The church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace and was strengthened. Walking IN THE FEAR OF THE LORD and comforted by the Holy Spirit, it multiplied. (Acts 9:31)

The fear of the Lord is a key to church growth. Somehow that never got mentioned in any church growth conferences I have attended.

Throughout Scripture, highest praise is reserved for the God-fearing – from the Egyptian midwives who rescued Moses to the first Gentiles to turn to Christ. Jesus himself told us to fear God.

But what about Bible verses that tell us that in Christ, we are no longer slaves to fear and that perfect love casts out fear?

Could the answer be that little phrase, “in Christ”? Our God is a consuming fire and before the Almighty, who can stand? Only those who hide in Christ. Moses had to be hidden in the cleft of the rock, Elijah was hidden in a cave and we are hidden in Christ, hidden in his righteousness, hidden in the beloved. Only then can we serve God without fear (Luke 1.74).

Jesus delivers us of all fears but one – the right fear of the Lord, which refuses to treat God as less than God, as if God were an extra to be ignored or glibly relegated to the status of a prayer slot-machine.

The right fear of God doesn’t send us running from God but to him to find his friendship (Psalm 25:14). And then, it chases all other fears away. What frightens you? Death? The economy cracking? Another virus? Loneliness? War? Other people’s judgments? Fears fly at us like cluster bombs but we are safe hidden in Christ. Why fear that which is created when we know the Creator, the one who handles molten planets without oven gloves, who made the crashing waves I saw in Devon last week?

I don't know about you but as one who can struggle at times with the wrong fears, I find this profoundly challenging and yet also deeply encouraging. The early church walked in the fear of the Lord, knowing that his judgement is the one that will stand. What will other’s opinions matter when he reads my life like a book? It seems that there is somehow an active choice to be made here - a way of living life which is the way of wisdom (Prov 9:10), holiness (Ex 20:20), hope (Ps 147:11), comfort (Acts 9:31) and even delight (Is 11:3).

The fear of the Lord is the master key to the treasures of God.

With my love

Kate