In days when any true understanding of the fear of God is in short supply, this challenging book calls us to wonder again at the character and glory of God and rebukes our careless and sloppy attitudes to his holiness and mercy.
The Fear of God is the title of the fifth of John Bunyan’s lesser-known writings published as separate books by the Banner of Truth. It deals with a subject that springs directly from Bunyan’s own experience during his long and painful search for assurance of faith recorded in Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners. So afraid was he of God and his holy law, but with an abject and cowardly fear, that he did not even dare to pick up a scrap of straw from the ground in case it should be stealing. But in this book Bunyan reveals the folly of such thinking. Set free at last from craven fear, he points us to a true heart fear of God that deepens our love for him and helps us to understand his ways.
Densely packed into these pages, we are given a wealth of teaching on the true way in which to fear God, a fear Bunyan describes as ‘a sweet and blessed work of the Spirit of grace’. Here is a book written by one who was pre-eminently a pastor and who understood his readers’ needs. Again and again, he employs a question-and-answer style to point out the truth. He deals with our problems wisely and compassionately, but also warns us against a crippling fear which is actually Satanic in origin.
In this short work, there is an abundance of material which pastors may well find useful for a series of sermons on this subject. But readers and pastors alike cannot fail to benefit from Bunyan’s thought-provoking and godly advice.
