We pray, “Give us this day our daily bread,” but we know that bread comes from Costco. As believers, we know that God is the giver of all good gifts. Yet how do we experience this truth? The answer begins with the fear of God.

Fear really is worship—we fear what we believe is ultimate, what we think has the last word over our lives.

However, my thesis is that the fear of God drives out the fear of everything else.

No matter how things appear, the reality is that from God’s vantage point we are all ants scurrying here and there, sometimes leading but mostly following, imagining that our brief life is about us.

preached. For the most part, the early Christians were not wringing their hands or protesting the paganism of, well, pagans. They knew that they were a strange colony of Christ’s kingdom in a fading age that glorified sin and mocked righteousness. Instead of parading their values, Christians practiced them quietly and communally and shared the

worshiping, and trusting in God is the beginning of recovering our sanity. “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction” (Prov 1:7). Locating the right object of our fear is Priority Number One. Tell me what you fear the most and it’s fairly easy to discern what idolatry you are prone to.

for his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom endures from generation to generation; all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, “What have you done?”

Using God, even the fear of God, for our own ends is nothing new, of course. In older days the fear of God was also used to manipulate people.

God does not exist for my happiness, but I exist for his glory. And when I am glorifying God, I am also enjoying him. Worshiping God is the flourishing of ourselves and those around us. So it is only in communion with him that I find genuine satisfaction which can weather unhappy circumstances. I don’t naturally know this because I’m a sinner.