What does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways, to love Him, to serve the LORD your God? There it is - fear and love at the same time.
I spent years thinking these were opposite things. If you love God, you're not afraid. If you fear Him, you're not free in love. But Moses puts them together. They're not opposites. They're the same posture from different angles.
Fear here is awe, reverence, the sense of standing before something vast and holy. Love is commitment, service, freely given allegiance. Together they describe what it means to really know God - you're awed by His greatness and drawn by His goodness.
I see this in my marriage sometimes. When I really see my wife - her strength, her character, her capacity - I'm struck by awe. I'm not afraid of her. But I'm aware that she's not someone I can take for granted. That awe actually deepens my love. I'm more careful, more attentive, more honoring because I see how much she matters.
That's what it means to fear and love God. You see His magnitude, and that makes you take Him seriously. You also experience His goodness, and that makes you choose Him. Both at the same time.
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