In college, I had a friend who was a West Point graduate, army ranger and a devout Christian and one evening while talking we both realized that because of our faith (and probably because we were in our twenties) we did not fear death, but we did fear life.
It was a honest conversation about obscurity, drudgery, getting stuck doing something we hated, making wrong decisions etc.. It was helpful to realize that I was afraid and what it was that I feared.
This brings me back to the Chambers quote, “The remarkable thing about God is that when you fear God, you fear nothing else, whereas if you do not fear God, you fear everything else.” While my friend and I were deeply committed to God, there were truths about Him that had not taken hold.
Trusting God has been hard for me. This may seem inconsistent but I need to be truthful. It seems that how I feel and what I think rarely match up. So while I "believe that God is good and trustworthy", I often act as if God was not present or caring. Fear of the Lord means that while I may feel uncertain, I chose to believe He is able to do anything I ask, but I also know He has the prerogative and right to do whatever He deems best whether I understand it or not.
As it says in Habbakuk 3:17, Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, ( in other words It's all gone bad from my perspective) yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior.
We fear life because we don't trust God, but what would it look like to hold fast to the simple children's prayer; God is Great, God is Good.
God is Great: He is all powerful and capable of anything, there is nothing that we need or want that He could not do.
God is Good: Truly KIND and loving, what He does and does not do is because, in His wisdom, He knows what is needed to bring about the best outcome.
Even for lifelong Christians, this is radical. I know because we can look at how we live, how I live. Our lives would look totally different if we lived like this were our bedrock belief and feared nothing but He who has all power. If we allowed God to be both great and good. And those people, the "saints" (Mother Theresa, St. Francis, Oscar Romero, Sojourner Truth, the Sadhu, Dorothy Day, Watchman Nee, Catherine Booth, Martin Luther, Martin Luther King jr,) the stand outs, those individuals who live and love fiercely and freely in Christ's name, they live like this is true no matter the cost. Why not us too?