Fear of God

The fear of the Lord is something a lot of modern christians have a hard time understanding. I've come to love this phrase because of some insight I've received. We think of fear as being scared of something and our God isn't something of which we'd like to be scared. I've learned to think of fear in a new way, though. Fear is the proper response to something which is aweful. So in stating this we're going to redefine a few words.
First we'll redefine aweful. Aweful comes from the same root word as awesome, and even awe. If we look at aweful as full of awe we start to realize aweful isn't purely bad as we like to present it. I present a grizzly bear as evidence. Aweful, in regards to a grizzly bear, is fear, terror, beauty, and commanding of respect. Fear makes a little more sense now but we're going to look at a different phrase here. This creature, because of it's power, commands respect. There are even consequences for a lack of respect for it, including death. God is aweful, in a sense that he commands respect. He has no choice. He is so holy compared to us. Holy= above or set apart. He is so holy that for us to approach him is impossible. He sent Jesus to bridge that divide by being a blameless human, clean, pure, HOLY. God can only be approached through Jesus, the "bear tamer". This phrase is actually funny because anyone who tames animals will tell you the animals are never tamed, they just tolerate the human when the humans show them respect. God, even through the expert at approaching him, Jesus, must be respected.
In a sense we've already redefined fear. We've redefined it to mean respect but it entails more than that. A healthy fear brings out respect, reverence, awe. Jesus prayed this way when he taught his disciples how to pray. He said hallowed be your name. Hallowed, revered. Feared, producing awe. So I leave you saying fear your aweful God.