Fear Of God // Stand In AweSample

Stephen & the Fear of God

People in church don’t generally talk about Stephen. He isn’t as famous as Moses and he doesn’t get as much coverage as David. He’s only mentioned in a couple of chapters in the Bible, so it can be tempting to skim over his life, but his story is really inspirational! He’s one of the greatest examples of what it looks like to live with a fear of God.

In Acts 7, we read about a long speech that Stephen gives, which causes the religious leaders to become so furious that they want to kill him. You can imagine Stephen delivering this speech, seeing these people become angrier and angrier, and as it escalated you can imagine him wondering whether he should keep going or stop speaking, to ensure his own safety.  

Yet Stephen was so full of the Holy Spirit that it did not matter what other people thought. Rather than being fearful of man, he had a fear of God. He was so in awe of God and so confident in his mission of seeing people saved that he chose to continue preaching the good news of Jesus. I wonder whether in our lives we are more focussed on fulfilling what God had called us to do or listening to the words of the crowd around us?

When the people began to throw stones at him, Stephen could have stopped preaching. But even as they attempted to take his life, Stephen called on the name of Jesus, because he knew that his strength was in God. In v.56 it says that Stephen’s eyes were fixed solely on God; he was not caught up in his personal circumstances but on the agenda of heaven. He was even willing to die for the gospel because of his view of God and what God had called him to! 

Although we may not end up in a situation quite as serious as Stephen’s, we will all encounter trials in life. People will always attempt to discourage us from living the Christian life, but when this happens we can look to the life of Stephen to remember that walking in the fear of God frees us from the paralysing nature of the fear of man.