that your faith may not fail

In 3 psalms today, four references:

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom" {Ps111:1}
"How blessed is the man who fears the Lord." {Ps112:1}
"You who fear the Lord, trust in the Lord." {Ps115:11}
"He will bless those who fear the Lord." {Ps115:13}

Do the search on your own, but there are 303 references to the word in the Word, and just in a quick scan, the bulk of them are in reference to fearing Him. The odd thing is the seeming dichotomy between OT and NT. The bulk of the 303 rest in the OT. As most Prots have been taught, fear is the opposite of faith. Because throughout NT, Jesus repeats the mantra "Fear not" or "Do not be afraid." But it picks back up in the letters, with Paul and others referencing fearing God.

Fear is not the opposite of faith as the OT so clearly demonstrates. Fear plays a vital role to our relationship to God. The nonfear counseled by Jesus in NT is directed toward fears of the world or others, because the bulk of the fear references in NT are fear of men (Jews, Pharisees, etc.); He never contradicts fearing God.

The wonder, then, is how come I've yet to hear a sermon teaching me how to fear. For another time, a sermon on this in this space. You heard it here first.