Recovering The Fear of The Lord
“It is my opinion that the Christian conception of God current in these middle years of the 20th century is so decadent as to be utterly beneath the dignity of the most high God and actually to constitute for professed believers something amounting to a moral calamity.”
— A.W. Tozer, The Knowledge of the Holy
A.W. Tozer wrote these words over sixty years ago, but they sound like they were written for today’s Church. His warning wasn’t just about bad theology, it was about a crisis of reverence. He saw a generation of believers who had lost sight of God’s holiness and traded it for something more comfortable, more manageable, more “modern.”
Tozer called it a “moral calamity.” Why? Because when our view of God becomes small, everything else follows. Our worship becomes shallow. Our obedience becomes optional. Our morals begin to bend. And soon, we’re left with a God made in our image—one who never confronts, never convicts, and never calls us higher.
Somewhere along the way, the Church’s view of God became small. We’ve traded reverence for comfort, holiness for hype, and awe for routine. The God of Scripture - the One who spoke galaxies into being, who shakes mountains, who commands angels has been reduced to a motivational figure or cosmic therapist.
But the truth is, God is not casual, convenient, or comfortable. He is holy. He is sovereign. He is worthy of our full surrender.
When we lose the fear of the Lord, we lose the anchor that keeps us from drifting. We lose the wonder that draws us to worship. And we lose the conviction that keeps us walking in righteousness.
If Tozer were alive today, I think he’d say the same thing: Recover your vision of God. Remember who you’re talking to when you pray. Remember who you’re singing to when you worship. Remember whose Word you’re reading when you open your Bible.
Because once you see God as He truly is, everything changes.
The fear of the Lord isn’t terror - it’s awe. It’s the realization that the same God who commands the universe knows your name, loves you deeply, and calls you His own. That truth should humble us, shape us, and bring us to our knees in worship.
Maybe it’s time we stop asking for a more comfortable God and start asking for a clearer vision of the Holy One.
"The Fear of The Lord is The Beggining of Wisdom" - Proverbs 9:10
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