Several years ago, a friend asked why one would believe in Reformed doctrines – not why as in “what’s the Scriptural support,” but why as in “what’s the benefit?”  At the time, my husband and I struggled to articulate an answer.  (We had an answer.  We just “sense” the difference.  But we couldn’t put a reason into words.)

My reading this week has produced for me a clear answer.  The fear of God.  The Bible tells us that the fear of Yahweh is:

• the beginning of wisdom (Ps. 111:10; Pr. 9:10),
• wisdom (Job 28:28),
• the beginning of knowledge (Pr. 1:7), and
• a fountain of life (Pr. 14:27).

It is His treasure (Is. 33:6)!

Clearly, the fear of Yahweh is a desirable thing!  Yet it is simply not possible to truly fear God unless we recognize Him for who He is – and that includes His complete sovereignty and control over all of His creation.  The awesomeness of His greatness, His vastness, and of the utter control He exercises over everything (including us!) prompts in us a fear of Him.

The doctrine of “total depravity” nurtures this awe, as we begin to taste of His vastness and His holiness in contrast to our own smallness and sinfulness.  And this sense of awe increases as we realize that He did not have to save us!  The wonder of His love for us, of His condescending to be our Savior and Friend – this God of the Universe.  WOW.

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So that, my friends, is the benefit and beauty I see in the embracing of Reformed theology: wonder, awe and, ultimately, the fear of God.