Seven things you probably don't know about me

1. I like rereading my own writing. This can be a bad habit, as it tends to make you think your words are more permanent than they really are. Call it my guilty pleasure.

2. I haven't read my Bible in a while. Speaking of guilt, I might as well confess here. I think it's ok for Christians to admit their failings, so here I go. I hope you don't think less of me.

3. I still haven't read the entire Bible. I tend to get lost in the Judges/Kings books when God starts saying, again and again, to wipe people out and not intermarry. I also haven't made it all the way through the minor prophets or Jeremiah. I keep intending to read those, and I do get something out of them when I try. I like to think I'm waiting for the right time, but I should really be more diligent and get through them, just so I can say I've read every word of the Bible.  It is God's instruction manual, so it is important to me to read the whole thing.

4. I haven't figured out creation vs evolution. I love the Bible's depiction of an orderly creation, and I'm not hung up on it being 6 literal 24-hour periods (how could it be if the sun, moon, and stars were all created on the fourth day?). I know God created all things, and that evolution doesn't answer the essential question of why we were created. Still, I am bothered by the scientific worldview that says we can decipher the origin of human beings using observation.

5. I recently heard an excellent sermon on faith and the hope we have in things unseen. I am still uncomfortable, though, with faith that asks me to deny things I can see with my own eyes. For example, I remember going hiking and picking up a rock and wondering how long it took to create that rock. It was a multi-colored sandstone rock, with multiple layers. It looked like sand had been compacted to create this rock, which would have taken a long time. I don't think I could believe in the Christian God if I thought he wanted me not to ask that question, or to deny what I saw and to take it on faith that Creation was completed in six 24-hour periods.

6. Faith in things unseen is more than a slogan. I do believe in Christ and God in a real way. My faith tends to be intellectual in some ways, but I am also incredibly moved to worship God not just on Sundays when we are singing and raising our hands, but also when I see the moon rise, reflecting the sun's light, or when I need to get through another workday and God's voice comes to me and I hear his loving, affirming Word to me -- telling me that I am loved, that He will provide, that I am blessed.

7. I love rest. Six days of work is enough. I tend to have busy weekends because of all the things we have to get done. I appreciate rest when I get it, though.

Sunday

Today I felt a burden lift off my shoulders that I didn't really know I was carrying. In my life, there is stress from illness in my family, financial stress, and anger as a result of relationships at work. Some of my work stress spills over into my personal life. I didn't know how angry I was or how overburdened until I got two or three songs in to the worship service, and I started really singing to God. Sometimes the Spirit allows me to enter into worship right away, but this time, it took a little while to sink in. The songs we sang were powerful -- "Open up the floodgates," one song's lyrics state, "open up the heavens, a mighty river, flowing from your heart, filling every part of our praise." Then came the next song, flowing into a refrain of "our God reigns," then the song "Forever" by Bethel Music/Kari Jobe (see lyrics here). I honestly don't remember the lyrics of the second song, but I remember lifting my arms to Jesus and really worshipping during that song. By the time we finished singing, I was weeping silently out of relief. Then the pastor started praying about how Jesus' burden is light and how all we need is for Jesus to say, "Peace, be still," in the midst of our storms.

I still have some of the same worries I had before I went into church today. Those worries/concerns can be met now because I met God. I still want to be a support to those in my family who are sick, I still face work pressure, and financial stress hasn't disappeared. But I know now that God is with me, saying, "Peace, be still," and that He inhabits the praises of his people. Worship today was more important than anything else, and it felt good.

The sermon was a challenge to ask two simple questions when it comes to faith, "Who is Jesus?" and the second, related, question, "how can I be saved?" I challenge those of us in the blogosphere reading this to ask those questions, and let me know if I can be a help to you in answering them.

Seven quick takes on a digital sabbath

1.  It's been a busy day.  It feels good to be busy, so I'm starting to think we should all have three day weekends all the time -- one day for doing stuff, one day for God, and one day to rest from our "time off."

2.  Speaking of rest, I think we shouldn't combine worship on Sunday with our sabbath rest.  Sundays are social and joyful, and they should be. We also need rest.  The sabbath is a divine command that is more important than the tithe, and our culture tends to completely ignore this command.

3.  Why is the sabbath more important than tithe, you ask?  It's in the 10 Commandments, for one. God also wants one seventh of our time, which is more proportionately than the one tenth of our stuff that belongs to God.

4.  Sabbath traditionally is from sundown to sundown on Saturday, so I like the idea of a "digital sabbath" -- now if only I can finish this post by sundown.

5.  Anyone want to join me?  Put down your devices one day a week.  It sounds like freedom to me.

6.  So it's on.  No texting, tweeting or computing for 24 hours.

7.  Praise God!

My word for 2013: prayer

I don't know much about the future, but I do know one thing -- I will need to be praying next year. My word for 2013 is prayer, the verse is Hebrews 4:16 -- Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

I have picked a word and Bible verse for the year for the past three years. I began with refuge in 2010, and the verse was Nahum 1:7. My word for 2011 was wisdom, and the verse was Proverbs 2:6. My word for 2012 was simple, and the verse was Psalms 1:6. The idea of God as a refuge came in handy in 2010, but I didn't do so well at gaining wisdom or keeping it simple in 2011 or 2012. Let's hope I gain some ability to keep prayer in the forefront for 2013.

On Marriage Equality

Pres. Obama's endorsement of marriage equality for gays and lesbians made headlines and prompted some Christian writers to question his Christian-ness and others to defend him as a Christian politician.  Regardless of that debate, I'm not sure I agree with the President's position (link here to one line from the interview).

On the one hand, I believe that gay people should have the same rights as others in our country.  We don't demand that people who want to get married meet any kind of religious standard, thanks to the separation of church and state in the U.S. Constitution and state constitutions.  My state recognizes ceremonies done by a "licensed minister," whether that person is an Elvis impersonator, a Zen Buddhist, or an ordained member of a Christian church.  However, Nevada is one state that has a definition of marriage as between a man and a woman enshrined in the state constitution, thanks to an amendment that passed by state referendum in 2000 and 2002.  I don't remember if I voted for or against the amendment, but it's clear that times have changed in a few short years.  People who are gay shouldn't be treated as second-class citizens.

On the other hand, marriage is a sacred covenant defined in the Bible and ordained by God.  It isn't something to be trifled with.  I would prefer a compromise position that gives gay people all the rights of a civil union, rather than insisting on what gay couples would call full equality.  Calling it marriage is more than a semantic difference.  A civil union is what it should be -- not the same thing as marriage.  The legal definition of marriage should change, but the covenant relationship between a man and a woman ordained by God should not be challenged or made equal to something the Bible clearly does not condone.  One gay Catholic writer I follow has made the argument that "homosexual acts" at the time Paul was writing most of the New Testament were quite different than today's gay couples -- most of whom, according to surveys, would prefer to marry if they could.  Homosexual acts in Roman times, he says, were power displays where a superior would essentially rape another man, and sometimes involved masters overpowering slaves.  Of course a Christian writer would be opposed to those acts, he says.  However, putting Paul in that context ignores the fact that Paul's lists of sins were meant more as examples than as technical definitions -- it's the state of the heart that Paul is most concerned with.  It's just not possible to put a same-sex couple on the same footing as an opposite-sex couple before God.  It comes down to what God ordains in the Bible in Genesis, that a man and a woman should leave their father and mother and become one flesh.  Christ's coming doesn't negate the Old Testament or the Torah, it is a fulfillment of it.  Yes, much has changed as a result of Christ's coming, but that doesn't extend so far as to excuse all sin.  As Christians, we shouldn't single out gay people for attack or deny them basic rights, such as visiting one's loved one in the hospital.  We should understand that, just as our view of divorce has "evolved" over time, so has our view of homosexuality.  Divorcees should feel welcome in the church, and so should gay people.  We just can't ignore what the Bible has to say about sexual purity as a whole.

One Word and One Verse 2012

My one word for the year last year was "wisdom," and my verse was related --Proverbs 2:6 "For the Lord gives wisdom, and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding."  I don't think I did such a good job of gaining wisdom from the Lord last year, but I hope I gained some.

This year, my thoughts are drifting in a new direction: my word for the year is "simple," as in "keep it simple, stupid," or "Simple = good."  My verse is relatively simple -- Psalm 1:6: "For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish."  Earlier in the Psalm, the Psalmist defines the "way of the righteous" in some ways as meditating on the law of the Lord, which I intend to do more of this year.  So, my goal for this year is simplicity, and to accomplish this, I hope to do more thinking about the Lord.

Happy Thanksgiving!

In all things give thanks.  From the BibleGateway site, here is the text of Paul's exhortation to the church in Thessalonika (1 Thessalonians 5: 12-24):

¹² Now we ask you, brothers and sisters, to acknowledge those who work hard among you, who care for you in the Lord and who admonish you. ¹³ Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. Live in peace with each other. ¹⁴ And we urge you, brothers and sisters, warn those who are idle and disruptive, encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone. ¹⁵ Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else.
 ¹⁶ Rejoice always, ¹⁷ pray continually, ¹⁸ give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
 ¹⁹ Do not quench the Spirit. ²⁰ Do not treat prophecies with contempt ²¹ but test them all; hold on to what is good, ²² reject every kind of evil.
 ²³ May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. ²⁴ The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.

"Reality-Based Community" Suffers from Irony

I love the following correction to outgoing executive editor Bill Keller's argumentative take on candidates' faith offered on the New York Times' website: "Because of an editing error, an essay on Page 11 this weekend, about the religious beliefs of Republican presidential candidates, misstates the proportion of Americans who believe that extraterrestrials live among us. It is about a third, not a majority. The essay also erroneously includes Rick Santorum among politicians affiliated with evangelical Christianity. Mr. Santorum is Catholic." 

In writing an essay about faith in public life, Mr. Keller overstates his case and misidentifies one candidate's faith completely.  I find it ironic, at least, that Mr. Keller would miss some facts while arguing that he is part of the "reality-based community."

Psalm 103

This psalm provided a lot of encouragement yesterday.  I'll link to it here:  BibleGateway.com.  It offers praise to the Lord for forgiveness of sins, and speaks to me about God's grace.  I love its simple way of offering praise, referencing the soul.  Some of us have forgotten that we have a soul.  Some of us have forgotten who God is, and what that means for us.  Some of the most amazing phrases in the Bible are in this psalm -- "slow to anger, abounding in love," "as far as the east is from the west."  It's best read in its entirety, but my favorite line is "Praise the Lord, O my soul."  It begins and ends the Psalm.  It offers a straightforward command to God's people, and reminds me that my soul is the one that should be doing the praising.  Praise the Lord, O my soul.

Good Friday

After this google search left me wondering if the news media will ever understand Good Friday, I decided to try to write my own account of the importance of this holiday.  So, here goes:
Good Friday is the day Christians remember the crucifixion of Jesus on the cross.  It is called Good Friday because God did his best work in history on this day -- best in the sense of "good," not in the sense of "earning approval."  In fact, God was rejected on this day, and it was a terrible day for humanity, in that we put the God of the Universe to death.  But God saw through his commitment and solved the problem of sin once and for all on Good Friday, so it is ultimately a good day.  The crucifixion was a gruesome punishment, and Jesus suffered immensely on the day we remember today.  He suffered not only pain and humiliation but also separation from the Father, something he had never experienced before.  His statements on the cross all have significance, but the cry, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" is the most powerful to me -- it is a quote from the Psalms that indicates that Jesus did indeed suffer the punishment of sin, which is separation from God.  Since Jesus never sinned, he did not deserve this punishment, but he took it upon himself as an atoning sacrifice -- something God demanded of his people for a long time before Jesus.  Jesus alone was capable of taking on this burden -- he was a unique person, being fully human and fully God, and he was able to take on the sins of the world while on the cross.  He not only survived this crushing burden, he ultimately triumphed over it three days later when he rose from the dead.  That is what we remember on Easter.  But, for today, we remember the sacrifice and suffering of Jesus -- not an easy concept to explain, nor one that looks right to those who don't know Christ, but that's what today's really about to me.

Maundy Thursday

A few scripture verses for this Maundy Thursday, the day we remember the Last Supper.

1 Corinthians 11:23-26: For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me."  In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me."  For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

Romans 8: 13-17: For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.  For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship.  And by him we cry, "Abba," Father.  The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children.  Now if we are children, then we are heirs -- heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

John 13:2-9: The evening meal was being served, and the devil had already prompted Judas Iscariot, son of Simon, to betray Jesus.  Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist.  After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, "Lord, are you going to wash my feet?" Jesus replied, "You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand."  "No," said Peter, "you shall never wash my feet."  Jesus answered, "Unless I wash you, you have no part with me."  "Then, Lord," Simon Peter replied, "not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!"

Lord, may we live up to your example of humility, may we learn to suffer in a way that glorifies you and demonstrates your Spirit in us, may we always remember your sacrifice on the cross for our sins.

Since My Life is an Open Book...

I thought I'd quote from what I'm reading today:

Psalm 84:10-12 -- Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.  For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from thsoe whose walk is blameless.  O Lord Almighty, blessed is the man who trusts in you.

And just for fun, The Princess Bride, 30th anniversary edition, p. xiv:

"But did I go?  Did not.  Never went to Florin, never thought much about it.  No, not true, I did think about it but I didn't visit for one reason: I was afraid the place would disappoint me."

This is William Goldman, writing as William Goldman, instead of as S. Morgenstern, the author of the history of Florin on which the Princess Bride is based.  Too bad none of that made it into the movie.

Why do I care about these minor prophets, anyway?

I've been reading the minor prophets lately -- see posts labeled "Reading Joel," "The prophetic turn" (Micah), "Zephaniah," and "Nahum" below -- so my loyal reader(s) might be asking, why does this reading matter to me?  The short answer is that I began reading them because I had never really read them, and I felt my Biblical knowledge was lacking.  Instead of knowledge, though, I have discovered in these books so far the fierceness of God's love.  Nahum begins by stressing that God is a jealous God, and all of the prophets I have read so far demonstrate that fact -- not that God is swayed by the emotion of human jealousy, but that he fiercely loves his people and desires to keep them from other gods and idols that only add to human misery and keep them away from him.  Does human nature change?  Probably -- over time we have become less attuned to God than we were in the past.  We have idols still, and those idols hold more sway than ever before.  However, God does not change.  The Old Testament God who fiercely desires his people to turn to him is the same God who sent Jesus to us at Christmas, and the same God who Jesus preached loves his people like a shepherd loves his flock.  I believe it is as true as true can be that God loves his people and desires to save them from themselves and their enemies.  This truth is expressed in the prophets as much as anywhere else in the Bible -- the gloom and doom of the prophecy comes from that love.  God has a righteous anger toward his enemies -- those who deny his truth and seek out something other than him to satisfy their deepest needs.  That anger, again, is not a human emotion but a reflection of God's fierce love.  So that's what I'm learning in reading these prophets for the first time.  I'm sure I will learn more as I go through them. 

Nahum

Continuing my reading of the minor prophets, I came across Nahum, which announces God's judgment against the city of Nineveh, a major city in the Assyrian Empire, which flourished between 875 BC and 627 BC, if the Bible maps I'm using are accurate.  Nahum was writing between 658 and 615 BC, according to those same Bible maps, so it was written around the time that the Babylonian Empire conquered or absorbed the Assyrian area that includes Nineveh, I think.  Apparently, God is against Nineveh.  He pronounced through Nahum a judgment that does not change over time -- in the NIV, he says directly "I am against you" twice, and in one passage he makes clear his intentions toward Nineveh:

You will have no descendants to bear your name.  I will destroy the carved images and cast idols that are in the temple of your gods.  I will prepare your grave, for you are vile. (1:14) 

Nahum does not contain as much of the prophetic turn toward God as the other minor prophets I have read.  It does promise "good news" to the people of Judah -- this was written during the time of the divided kingdom in Israel -- but not to the Ninevites.  When Jonah visited Nineveh in 781 BC, he brought a warning from God to the city, and the city repented.  However, this time God has apparently had enough of Nineveh.  The verse that struck me most is this one (1:7-8):

The Lord is good, a refuge in times of trouble.  He cares for those who trust in him, but with an overwhelming flood he will make an end of Nineveh; he will pursue his foes into darkness.

Zephaniah

Continuing with my reading of minor prophets, I picked up Zephaniah today.  It's interesting after enjoying such a bountiful feast yesterday to see the woes that are described for the whole world in the prophecy.  Zephaniah says, in verse 1:18:

Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to save them on the day of the Lord's wrath.  In the fire of his jealousy the whole world will be consumed, for he will make a sudden end of all who live on the earth.

Zephaniah goes on for a while about the destruction of the world, nations, and "the city of oppressors" by God, but it does contain the prophetic turn toward God at the end, and promises of salvation for God's people.  The comfort of modern America is a stark contrast to the severe physical conditions of Biblical time, but I think Zephaniah has it right when he says there is no room to be "haughty" on God's holy hill.  Our temptation is to be haughty because of our relative wealth.  The U.S. is still the richest country on Earth, I think -- definitely the biggest economy, and per capita GDP is probably pretty close to #1.  Anyway, my point is, do we see ourselves as God's people, or do we put too much trust in things?  I know American culture is definitely too much of a consumer culture.  Even our current economic woes haven't changed the pattern of encouraging more and more consumption -- bigger and bigger restaurant plates, bigger and bigger combo meals, bigger and bigger televisions -- more and more.  Look at Black Friday and what it's become, after all. We are the "city of oppressors" to some people around the world, and who's to say that Gods' wrath can't be aimed at our love of wealth?  Most Americans are decent people, but we take so much for granted, and we do live with comforts that Biblical prophets wouldn't even comprehend.  On a day like today, the day after Thanksgiving, I am still grateful that I live in the U.S. because of the freedoms and privileges that come with being an American.  But I can't help but wonder, are we less prepared than we think we are for what's to come?

Blaming God

The question was asked in Bible study -- why do we praise God for the good things in our lives, but not blame him for the bad stuff?  I fumbled for an answer to this relatively simple question, but as I've thought more about it, I feel I've arrived at more of an answer.  God is good all the time -- he is on the side of good, and he wants the best for his people.  He allows us free will, though, to make decisions that result in terrible consequences.  He is allowing the world he created to consistently act in opposition to his will, because he wants to save a remnant of his people -- he would like to save everyone, but he gives us choices that allow us to wander from his will.  The example of Job was brought up in Bible study -- Job loses everything, including his family, his health, and his wealth, and he beseeches God for pages and pages, demanding to know why he is being handed these terrible blows.  God's answer to Job is basically, who are you to question me? 

Thinking through things

I've been trying to think my way through some emotional stuff this week -- my wife and I got some bad news that's pretty heavy.  (If my loyal reader(s) need more details, I'd be happy to provide them in an email.)  I've been trying to go to God with the problems and work through them, and my post yesterday was one way in which I've been trying to analyze and work through the problems.  My post was probably a tad too academic, though, to really offer much uplift in the way of emotions.  I tend to approach faith intellectually first and emotionally second, but I think it's both, and this week, the emotions are taking center stage.  My wife especially is aching with a heart-ache because of this news, but my heart aches too, especially for her but also a little bit for myself.  I don't want to fall into self-pity, but I do want to be more open about how I'm feeling.  This doesn't mean that I'm not reassured by the knowledge that God is good or that he is light that overcomes darkness, because I still believe those things to be true.  It's hard to find "delight" in those things right now, but I know there is joy in them, because joy does not depend upon circumstances.  I can "delight" in those truths later.  Right now, I need to remind myself of the joy of God's salvation and his promises to his people.  Right now, God's word truly is a solace, not a triumphant shout.  The intellectual part of me wants to find a scripture to fit my circumstances, but maybe the only way to think through these things is to allow myself to feel them, and then think about the theology of it later.

Asking God why

The Bible records many anguished cries for God's help.  Some of these cries are cries of the heart, like this one from Psalm 13:1-2 --

How long, O Lord?  Will you forget me forever?  How long will you hide your face from me?  How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and every day have sorrow in my heart?  How long will my enemy triumph over me?

But this short psalm concludes (v. 5-6):

But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation.  I will sing to the Lord, for he has been good to me.

Surely the middle of this psalm must contain some clue as to how to handle the adverse situations we find ourselves in -- no matter the circumstance, the author of the psalm says that he will trust the Lord.  Let's look closely, then, at the middle two verses:

Look on me and answer, O Lord my God.  Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death; my enemy will say, "I have overcome him," and my foes will rejoice when I fail.

It sounds like the author of the psalm (David) knew some things about God that we tend to forget.  First, God is on the side of good.  He wants good to triumph over evil.  The "enemy" of the psalm is the same enemy that makes us turn from God today -- the devil, who is really working hard to bring about the destruction of God's people, even as God is trying to save us.  Second, God desires to save us from ourselves.  David seems to be reminding God that God has something at stake here, too -- his name will be tarnished if those who trust in him are put to shame.  God doesn't really need this reminder, though -- he's always intervening on the side of good.  David is expressing his desire to have God notice him, to "answer" him, and God is always already answering.  His answers don't always take the form we expect, but he is aware of our troubles and wants the good for us.  Finally, God will always overcome evil with good. That's why David asks God for light, because light overcomes darkness every time. 

So working through this psalm to the center, I find reassurance that God is light, and light has come into the world in the form of Jesus, to ultimately bring us out of the darkness.

The Presbyterian "We"

Growing up in the Presbyterian Church, I got used to saying the prayer of confession as part of services.  This was a prayer prayed in unison and printed in the bulletin that acknowledged our need for Christ because of sin every week.  The sins in the prayer of confession were often very general, and I remember thinking as I was growing up, "this one doesn't really apply to me," or something along those lines, as we were praying this printed prayer.  And, as my wife pointed out when we were dating, how can whoever writes these things possibly know whether I have committed a particular sin or not?  The prayer of confession is written in the first person plural, though -- "we," not "I."  Which brings me to this point -- the "we" of the prayer of confession is something I have come to value more as I got older.  It ingrained in me a sense of shared responsibility that goes beyond guilt -- acknowledging every week that we need Jesus because we have sinned not only reminds us that we all fall short of the mark in following Jesus' example but also that we have a share of the responsibility for reaching the lost and saving ourselves from our own sins.  It is something that I sometimes slip into in my own writing, without even thinking about it -- see the last two posts for examples.  I believe that we as human beings all have a responsibility to one another that is rooted in our need for Christ.  It's something I'd like to keep foremost in my mind.

The prophetic turn

I read another minor prophet this morning, Micah, and began to realize there is a pattern to the prophetic writings.  There is a turn from warning of God's wrath to reminding God's people of his love and salvation.  The question was asked in Bible study two weeks ago -- what do we need saving from?  The answer, in one way or another, is God's wrath.  The Christian God is a jealous God, and he doesn't change from the Old Testament to the New.  He wants us to fear him, even as he shows love to us and asks us to love one another as he loves us.  The New Testament states that perfect love drives out fear, but that doesn't mean that love and fear can't co-exist in our relationship with God.  God is perfect love, and when we have God in us, it does drive out fear in us; however, fear of God is a natural response to knowing who God really is.  Here's Micah on the subject of fearing God:  (Micah 6:9)

"Listen! The LORD is calling to the city— and to fear your name is wisdom —  'Heed the rod and the One who appointed it....'"  

The Lord goes on to cite examples of his people's corruption and to promise to punish those who do wrong.  Still, there is the prophetic turn from wrath to mercy: (Micah 7:18-20)

"Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy. You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea. You will be faithful to Jacob, and show love to Abraham, as you pledged on oath to our ancestors in days long ago."

Which means that, even as we are guilty of sin and deserve punishment for missing the mark, God is merciful and allows his mercy to rule over his just nature.  God's wrath will only be carried out after the end of time, when punishment will be handed out to those who refuse God's gift of salvation.  God's gift of salvation does not free us from the consequences of sin in this life -- murder and lying still result in painful burdens that we will carry for our entire earthly lives.  But he can save a remnant of his people from the consequences of sin -- if they trust him to save them.  God's gift of salvation is free, but it takes a lifetime to truly escape the consequences of sin -- we sin so often and so willingly that it becomes a test of wills over a lifetime to begin to live a Godly life.  That's why the prayer to strengthen my will in accord with God's will is important.  That's why the prophetic turn matters -- because God's wrath and his mercy are aspects of his character that give us many, many reasons to trust him.  We have been forgiven much.  It's time that God's wrath became something we wrestle with, as opposed to something we just ignore.