Do you know what truly shapes our obedience? Our actions are governed by what we fear. Drawing from the timeless examples of Abraham, the Hebrew midwives, Pharaoh, Saul, and even the religious leaders, we learn that obedience to God flows from a genuine fear of Him—and not from our fear of man. Why? because we obey what we fear.

https://youtu.be/qGrBmyob1o8

Table of contentsAbraham Obeyed God Because He Feared HimThe Midwives Obeyed God Because They Feared HimPharaoh Disobeyed God Because He Didn’t Fear HimThe Israelites Would Obey God If They Feared HimSaul Disobeyed God Because He Didn’t Fear HimThe Religious Leaders' Hatred for JesusThe Religious Leaders Obeyed the People Because They Feared ThemWe Obey God If We Fear HimThe Whole of Duty of Man

Let me share four of the strangest fears I read about and observe how they affect people’s lives.

Nomophobia is the fear of being without your cell phone. People with nomophobia experience excessive anxiety about not having their phone, their battery running low, or their phone being out of service. They have difficulty going anywhere or doing anything without frequently checking their phones. I wish Katie had this fear so I could reach her more easily. One of her most common statements is, “I can’t find my phone.”

Arithmophobia, derived from arithmetic, refers to an intense fear of math. Individuals with this phobia experience anxiety when doing math or interacting with numbers. Katie often sends the kids to my office for help with math, and a few seem to have this fear. Arithmophobia can significantly affect a person’s life because many tasks and jobs require dealing with numbers.

Xanthophobia is the fear of the color yellow. Individuals with this phobia fear yellow objects like school buses and flowers. These people avoid the color at all costs and find yellow foods distressing. Xanthophobia can disrupt daily life because yellow items are found everywhere.

Ablutophobia is the fear of bathing. We can imagine how this fear impacts the lives of those who have it and those around them.

We have a child, and I’m not going to tell you whether it’s our oldest, who claims to be afraid of holes. Because I love this child and don’t want her to live in fear of something absurd, I told her there’s no such thing as a fear of holes. Unfortunately, we live in a world where anything can be labeled as a phobia. So when I took out my phone to search the Internet, prove to my daughter that she has nothing to worry about, and help her overcome this irrational belief, I discovered trypophobia. Trypophobia is the fear of irregular patterns with numerous holes, such as those found in sunflowers, honeycombs, sponges, and seedy fruits.

If fears did not affect our lives, they wouldn’t matter. But because fears shape our decisions, they matter greatly. The Bible doesn’t mention any of the fears I just discussed, but it does teach that what we fear controls us. I want to show you some examples and discuss their application to our lives.

Abraham Obeyed God Because He Feared Him

Genesis 22:2 He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”

Because God commanded Abraham to sacrifice the son he loved, we would be led to believe that Abraham was willing to sacrifice Isaac because he loved God so much. He loved God even more than he loved Isaac. But look at Genesis 22:11 to see what the Angel said when he stopped Abraham:

Genesis 22:11 But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 12 He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that YOU FEAR GOD, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.”

James 2:23 calls Abraham the friend of God. This leads me to believe that Abraham loved God. That’s not a question in my mind. But Abraham obeyed God because he feared God.

The Midwives Obeyed God Because They Feared Him

When the Israelites multiplied in Egypt, Pharaoh began to fear them. He commanded the Hebrew midwives to murder all the baby boys:

Exodus 1:16 “When you serve as midwife to the Hebrew women and see them on the birthstool, if it is a son, you shall kill him, but if it is a daughter, she shall live.” 17 But the midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but let the male children live.

What’s fascinating about this account is that, on the surface, it says that the midwives only feared God. Do you think the Hebrew midwives feared Pharaoh, too? Of course. If a man is evil enough to enslave a whole race of people and murder their babies, then you live in fear that if you disobey him, he will murder you, too. So it’s not just that they feared God. It’s that they feared God more than they feared Pharaoh.

This greater fear of God is often what’s required to obey. For example, imagine these situations: We believe God wants us to share the gospel with someone. We are afraid we won’t know what to say or that they will laugh at us. However, our greater fear of God than our fear of the people leads us to obey in this situation.

Imagine we are in a group of people, and they start using crude language or gossip. We know we should say something, but we fear embarrassing ourselves or losing friends. Our greater fear of God leads us to obey in this situation.

Pharaoh Disobeyed God Because He Didn’t Fear Him

If fear of God produces obedience, the absence of fear of God leads to disobedience. Sometimes, you’ll meet people who say they fear God, but if their lives are characterized by disobedience, regardless of what they say, they don’t fear God.

Let me give you the context for this first example with Pharaoh. Seven plagues had been unleashed. The seventh plague was hail and fire, destroying everything left out in the field, both man and beast, and all the vegetation.

Exodus 9:27 Then Pharaoh sent and called Moses and Aaron and said to them, “This time I have sinned; the Lord is in the right, and I and my people are in the wrong. 28 Plead with the Lord, for there has been enough of God's thunder and hail. I will let you go, and you shall stay no longer.”

Pharaoh looks humble and repentant. He said he sinned and would let the people go. We know that’s not true. More plagues remain. Now Moses tells Pharaoh why he will continue to disobey:

Exodus 9:29 Moses said to him, “As soon as I have gone out of the city, I will stretch out my hands to the Lord. The thunder will cease, and there will be no more hail, so that you may know that the earth is the Lord's. 30 But as for you and your servants, I know that you DO NOT YET FEAR THE LORD GOD.”

Moses said he would bring the plague to an end, but he also knew Pharaoh would return to his old ways – he would repent of his repentance – and disobey – because he didn’t fear God.

The Israelites Would Obey God If They Feared Him

Here’s the context: God brought Israel to the base of Sinai. Given everything He did to get them out of Egypt, such as unleashing the plagues and parting the Red Sea, we would expect Him to be friendly and welcoming. Instead:

Exodus 20:18 Now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled, and they stood far off 19 and said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die.”

God was so terrifying that they thought His voice would kill them! Moses explained God’s motivation…

Exodus 20:20 Moses said to the people, “Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin.”

Moses told Israel that their fear of God was good because it would prevent them from sinning.

Saul Disobeyed God Because He Didn’t Fear Him

God commanded Saul to utterly destroy [the Amalekites and] all that belonged to them, but he only destroyed what he didn’t want and kept what he did want. God sent Samuel to rebuke him, and listen to Saul’s excuse:

1 Samuel 15:24 Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice.

I’m not going to have you turn there, but two chapters earlier, Saul offered the sacrifice he wasn’t supposed to, and God told him that He would take the kingdom from him and give it to David. Saul knew God's discipline. He had to fear Him at least somewhat.

Earlier, we talked about the competition between our fears. Disobedience doesn’t always mean that we don’t fear God at all. It just means that we don’t fear Him more than something else. And that was the case with Saul: he feared God. He just feared the people more.

The Religious Leaders' Hatred for Jesus

The religious leaders have wanted to murder Jesus for a while. The earliest date I found is when He healed the man with the withered hand on the Sabbath:

Matthew 12:14 But the Pharisees went out and conspired against him, how to destroy him.

Believe it or not, they wanted to murder Him because He healed the man with a withered hand on the Sabbath. So, it has been a while, and if they hated Him before, they hated Him even more after He made his triumphal entry into Jerusalem.

Luke 19:45 And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold, 46 saying to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a den of robbers.”

How do you think the religious leaders felt about Jesus ruining their big payday? Luke 16:14 says they were lovers of money, so this must have infuriated them. It got even worse because what did Jesus predict the destruction of at the beginning of the Olivet Discourse? The temple! So,