God’s secrets

We have a friend who is unable to keep a secret. A couple weeks ago she was included in a planned surprise anniversary party for her son. She said she kept her “lip zipped” and was so proud of herself. As her family looked back, they recalled how she dropped big hints on the way to the party with them. While they didn’t catch on, she just could not totally keep this great secret to herself.

God has secrets too. He has a secret covenant or agreement that He makes with certain people. Psalm 25:14 describes the people to whom He makes this mystery known, “The secret of the Lord is with those who fear Him, and He will show them His covenant.”

Most people would say that the fear of the Lord means an awe and reverence for Him. It does mean that, but in my research, this word can also mean terror, like the healthy terror I should have if a hungry tiger walked into the room or a tornado was bearing down on my house.

Fearing the Lord, in my opinion, means recognizing His unlimited power and what He could do in my life and in this world. It means knowing that He is not to be messed with, and even though He is a loving God who cares for me more than my awareness, like the children of Narnia, I know that “He is not a tame lion.”

The fear of the Lord is important for me. If I focused only on His unconditional love, I might take that for granted and do stupid things. This holy fear keeps my choices in balance. If I focused only on His grace and forgiveness, I might sin without a thought, but fear makes me realize that God can inflict chastening and even bring great calamities to teach me that sin is my enemy; I must not fool around with it. Even the consequences of deliberate sin show me that I need to fear the Lord. While He forgives me, He may not withhold the fruit of foolishness just because He loves me.

This verse from the Psalm 25 brings out another great reason to fear the Lord. He reveals His secrets to those who do. Because I fear Him, He shows me things that I would not otherwise know, things about Him and the spiritual realm, things about myself and others, and the trusts about the covenant or solemn agreement that He has made with me.

C. S. Lewis did a great job in depicting the Lord with the lion, Aslan in his Chronicles of Narnia series. Sometimes I imagine myself with those children curled up in the fur of Aslan, knowing that He could devour me in just one bite, yet knowing that I am safe with him.

I am safe with God too. Because Jesus died for me, I am protected from God’s fury and wrath, and can instead consider this sin-hating God my refuge and hiding place. He still hates sin, but He let me in on His secret—the closer I get to Him, the less apt I am to experience His wrath and the more I know about His grace.