I was going through some company training recently, and was in one section that detailed the process for monitoring the implementation of a major change. It detailed the stages where the progress compared to the plan is reported to successively higher levels of review committees, culminating with review before the company board, if it’s warranted (I.e, if the project has failed to meet its deliverables objectives).

As I was thinking about that, I thought about how on some occasions, some of the supervisors in my chain of command have scrambled to avoid having a project labeled “At Risk”, and subject to this degree of scrutiny. And I thought about how I would feel if I was on the hot seat and compelled to explain to those with a high degree of authority (e.g., the CEO of a multi-billion dollar corporation) why a project that I was responsible for was not meeting its objectives. And I had to acknowledge, even in that imagined scenario, I would definitely be “quaking in my boots”. And asked myself, “Why?”.

Well, it certainly has to do with fear of consequences. Even if the consequences wouldn’t be losing my job, it would, at the very least, involve letting down or disappointing someone who expected great things from me.

In my research, I came across a story that the 19th century preacher Charles Spurgeon told concerning the English reformer Hugh Latimer, who was preaching before the King of England, Henry the Eighth.

He preached a sermon before his most gracious majesty against sins of lust… not forgetting or abridging the personal application. And the king said that next time Latimer preached — the next Sunday — he should apologize, and he would make him so mould his sermon as to eat his own words. … When the next Sunday came, he stood in the pulpit and said, “Hugh Latimer, thou art this day to preach before the high and mighty prince Henry, King of Great Britain and France. If thou sayest one single word that displeases his majesty he will take thy head off; therefore, mind what thou art at.” But then said he, “Hugh Latimer, thou art this day to preach before the Lord God Almighty, who is able to cast both body and soul into hell, so tell the king the truth outright.”

So we see that Latimer has legitimate reason to fear the harm that might come to him by his displeasing the king, just as I, in my imagined scenario, might have legitimate reason to fear the (lesser) harm that might come to me from displeasing the CEO. But we place that in context by contrasting it to the fear of disappointing our Lord.

But can this “fear” shed any light on what the scripture means when it refers to the “fear of God”? Even if we’re not in fear of God’s punishment (i.e., separation from Him in hell), we can certainly fall short of His expectations.