Holy FOMO & The Fear Of Missing Out

I remember being a teenager and wanting nothing more than to go to my dad's house after school and whittle wood with him on our deck. My parents were divorced so I would spend Mondays and Tuesdays at my dad's house. After the 7 months of our winter tundra weather in Minnesota gave way to spring, one of the things my dad and I loved to do together was find some dead wood, go sit on our porch, and whittle something together. Whether it was a weapon or a tool, we would whittle away for hours. Some weeks, my whole week revolved around the desire of being able to go to my dad's house to enjoy his presence while we whittled. I feared missing out on this more than anything in my life at this time.

The reason that I enjoyed this so much and feared missing out is that my dad would speak life into me and speak identity over me. We would also dream together about the future, share our passions together, and my dad would just delight in me as his son. There was no performance he demanded of me, I had no feeling that I had to earn his love because I knew I was fully accepted and loved, with all my flaws, due to the fact that I was by nature his son and he loved me.

There was one week I remember in particular where I was looking forward to going to my dad‘s house to whittle with him on the porch. But, when I arrived at his house after school, I found a porch full of wood shavings and freshly shaved branches, and a father, who was inside sleeping. My dad struggled with a prescription drug addiction. When my dad did not have his medication, he could not function nor be awake, so some weeks I would come to my dad's house and because he had run out of his medication he was not able to function for the two days I was there, but could only sleep. This crushed me and filled me with jealousy, rage, and so much hurt because I had missed out on the one thing that I desired to do all weekend long.

As THE Father has taken me deeper into this memory, he has shown me how much more so this very idea applies to Him. That through Christs’ cross and resurrection, we have been

invited into the holy of holies to live before the face of God, to sit on the porch of our Father to simply know, be known, enjoy, delight and be delighted in. This is possible because in Christ, we were purchased from hell and death and made sons and daughters by grace through faith.

Although I was deserving of wrath and condemnation, I was chosen, beloved, set apart, deemed worthy not because of my inherent worthiness but because of his infinite worthiness, grace, call and purposes. This is a profound gospel. A good Father. The holy FOMO we should all have.

“The Lord is my light and my salvation—whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my

life—whom should I dread? When evildoers came against me to devour my flesh, my foes and my enemies stumbled and fell. Though an army deploys against me, my heart will not be afraid; though a war breaks out against me, I will still be confident. I have asked one thing from the Lord; it is what I desire: to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, gazing on the beauty of the Lord and seeking him in his temple. For he will conceal me in his shelter on the day of adversity; he will hide me under the cover of his tent; he will set me high on a rock. Then my head will be high above my enemies around me; I will offer sacrifices in his tent with shouts of joy. I will sing and make music to the Lord.” (Ps. 27:1-6)

The other night in our community group we had talked at length about the fact that we have lost, in the Church, the fear of God. We discussed how God is often reduced to mere grandfather God, who is only loving, but has no truth, is not holy or righteous, and ultimately is not good. Thus the love of God loses its substance. As we prayed I felt like the Lord spoke this word to me in my spirit, saying, “without the Fear of the Lord, you cannot fully live before the face of God.”

It has become increasingly clear that this is not only true that we have lost this, but also is a

symptom, I believe, of idolatry and rebellion to this key call of the church to fear (love, treasure, desire, delight in) God above all else. (Ezekiel 14:4, Eccle 12:13; Mark 12:30, Ps 37:4, Ps. 16:11). The consequence of the Garden was we lost the joy and privilege of living what is called Coram Deo, “before the face of God” or “In the presence of God” in one way, due to a lack of the Fear of God in the moment of temptation. 

Communing and consuming God, which was the true purpose of our life, was dismantled and death was now man's destiny due to Adam and Eve Rejecting God as their Lord and, in a way, fearing missing out on being like God as Satan had said. Rather they should have feared missing out on remaining with God in paradise.

But you may still ask, why fear God? Is he not a loving Savior? Yes! This is exactly why we

should fear him. Exodus 34:6-7 tells us what God says of himself as he passed by Moses, 

“The LORD the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and abounding in faithful love and truth, maintaining faithful love to a thousand generations, forgiving iniquity, rebellion, and sin. But he will not leave the guilty unpunished, bringing the consequences of the fathers’ iniquity on the children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generation.” 

In the NT when Jesus passes by us in John 1:1-14, he substantiates and manifests this revelation of God in the incarnation. He shows us the glory of the father fully and reveals and confirms His nature, and by grace, allows us to look directly into the face of God, beholding his beauty, without fear and yet full of godly fear and awe.

Before going further it is imperative to note the two words which are used in the Hebrew and

Greek, in reference to the fear of God.” The Hebrew (yārē’)– to fear, awed to the point of withdrawing – either from something good or bad (depending on the context); often used for "respectful fear" (awe-based reverence) – versus irrational fright. The Greek word (phobos) "fear" is used positively of avoiding (fleeing from) what displeases the Lord, what is evil, unrighteous, to embrace what is truly good, pleasing/glorifying to him, and satisfying to us.” - The Discovery Bible

There is a real sense in which we fear God, in terms of experiencing fright and terror like the

Israelites who were before Mt. Sinai did in Exodus. They experienced fear due to their sinful nature and being before the sheer power and magnitude of his holiness, splendor, and righteousness. Scripture tells us that the unregenerate non-believer is a child of wrath (Eph 2:2), that the wrath of God abides on their head (John 3:36), and that hell will be the eternal destination of those who do not fear God and to flee from sin by repenting and trusting in Christ for salvation (Matt 10:28). 

So, in a sense, there is a true fright that one is to experience in light of the holiness, justice, and righteousness of God. Even the believer should still hold a sense of trembling and awe-based fear before God in light of this reality. But simultaneously, through faith in Christ, we are free to come before God, covered by the blood to enjoy Him supremely because of what Christ finished on our behalf.

Let us now move onto discussing the “fear of the Lord” for the believer. If this is who God is, what he has done, and the above is a taste of what it means to fear God, then the fear of the Lord can again be compared to what I like to call the true and only good form of FOMO (fear of missing out) that we should experience. The FOMO that brings us back to the Garden experience of living before the Face of God in fullness of Joy, experiencing pleasures forevermore (Ps 16:11). 

What I mean by that is that we should fear missing out on who God is, and what he has for us in himself as the creator, sustainer, and satisfier of our souls more than being condemned forever in Hell. As Augustine once said, “You made us for Yourself and our hearts are restless until they find rest in Thee.” 

A proper fear of the Lord then frees us from all other forms of unhealthy fear. It facilitates and is a foundation for progressive sanctification (Phil. 2:12-13; Matthew 5:6). Fear of the Lord fashions us more into the image of Jesus (Rom 8:28-29), fortifies who we are in Christ and whose we are as his children (1 John 3:1-3), and finally it fills us with resurrection power that we may be able to live according to His Word and for his Glory (Eph 1:15-21,3:14-21; 5:15-18).
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John Jedneak

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