fear of God

Today I saw two sides of the fear of God. First was in Acts 19:13-20. The seven sons of Sceva fell into the common trap of thinking that God's power could be accessed if the right words were used, almost like using a spell or incantation. But God is God and He can not be controlled or manipulated by anyone or anything. They found this out the hard way! Verse 17 says that everyone who heard about it was seized with fear, but the result was that the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honor. This is one way to get the fear of God. The other is found in Psalm 147. David spent time meditating on the awesome power and greatness of God. God's awesome power can bring comfort or dread depending on one's relationship to Him.