Fear of the Lord

Dear Friend,

How are you? The Christmas season is upon us. I will be leaving Indonesia in 2 weeks. I will be in Japan with my parents, it will be so great! However, I won't be with my sisters which makes me sad to think of.

The other night I was thinking back to when I was little. Imagine yourself at the age of 6, you wake up in the middle of the night with a horrible stomachache. You try to ignore the pain and go back to sleep but unfortunately this plan does not work. Quietly pulling down the covers, you sit up and tiptoe to the door. The whole house is quiet and dark, everyone is sleeping. Thankfully Mom put that little nightlight in the hallway. You walk down the hall to your parents closed door. Slowly, and oh so quietly, you open the door just enough to slip into the room. There you stand at the foot of your parents bed. They are both sleeping so soundly. Looking to the right side of the bed, then to the left, you have to decide which parent you are going to wake up. "Mooooomy. Daaaady," you say almost inaudibly. "Mooomy, Daaady," you try a little louder. "Mommy, Daddy," you say even louder. Eventually you see a stirring on one side of the bed and begin to approach that parent. "I don't feel so good," you say, trying to sound as miserable as possible so that they won't get mad at you for waking them up. Hold on a second, why would they be mad? They are your parents, they love you and want to help you when you are hurting? Why would you be scared of that?
 
I don't know why, but it was scary, disturbing your parents when they are peacefully sleeping was such a scary thought to me.


As I was drifting to sleep a couple of nights ago this story popped into my head along with the thought that perhaps this is what it is like to fear the Lord. I have always had difficulty understanding the fear of the Lord. In my head I understand it, but not as much in my heart. I always think of God as the loving Father, always there to help. I know He is so perfect and amazing that I don't deserve to ever be in the same room as Him... but for some reason it is hard for me to grasp the concept of fearing the Lord. Well, this story made me think of it. Even though my parents love me so much, I was still scared to wake them up. Even though God the Father's love for me is unconditional, He is so amazing and has so much power, that we need to fear Him.

I don't know... it's still very confusing to me. Perhaps my story doesn't really relate. 
Any thoughts or help you can give me?

Your friend, 
res