The Awe of God · Study Guide
Week Five
Intimacy with God
Holy fear does not push us away from God. It teaches us to draw near with reverence, trust, honesty, obedience, and a growing desire to know Him for who He truly is.
Week Five explores the surprising biblical connection between the fear of the Lord and intimacy with God.
We will examine where intimacy begins, how distorted images of God affect the way we approach Him, and what Scripture means when it speaks about friendship with God.
The goal is not merely to feel spiritually close to God, but to know Him more truthfully, trust Him more deeply, respond to Him more honestly, and walk with Him in reverent friendship.
Intimacy with God begins when we see Him truthfully. Holy fear removes casualness and false assumptions so that we can draw near through Christ with confidence, reverence, trust, obedience, and a growing desire for God Himself.
Read Before You Begin
When you think about being close to God, what do you believe makes that closeness possible?
Teaching Summary
Where Intimacy Begins
— Psalm 25:14
Scripture does not present holy fear and intimacy as opposites.
Psalm 25 connects reverence for God with closeness to God.
Intimacy begins when we stop approaching God according to our own assumptions and begin receiving Him as He truly is.
Holy fear does not close the door to intimacy. It prepares the heart for it.
Knowing About God and Knowing God
We can know many true things about God without living in a deep relationship with Him.
Information matters, but intimacy moves beyond information.
Truth becomes trust. Trust becomes surrender. Surrender becomes obedience. Obedience becomes a history of walking with God.
Biblical knowledge should lead us toward the God who has revealed Himself.
Holy Fear Draws Us Near
The fear of the Lord is not the fear that God is waiting to reject His children.
Through Christ we are welcomed.
— Hebrews 4:16
Confidence and reverence belong together.
Grace gives us confidence to come near. God's holiness teaches us never to treat that access casually.
We come confidently because of Christ and reverently because of who God is.
A False View of God
The way we picture God profoundly affects the way we relate to Him.
If our view of God is distorted, prayer, worship, obedience, repentance, and trust will also be distorted.
Some see God primarily as a harsh judge.
Others imagine Him as endlessly permissive.
Both pictures miss something essential.
The Harsh Judge
In this false picture, God is mainly angry, disappointed, and looking for reasons to punish.
This often produces anxiety, constant guilt, insecurity, and attempts to earn God's approval.
It overlooks the mercy, grace, and welcome revealed through Jesus Christ.
The Indulgent Grandfather
The opposite distortion sees God as loving but never corrective.
Sin is treated lightly. Obedience becomes optional. Holiness receives little attention.
This picture emphasizes love while neglecting God's holiness, authority, and justice.
The Holy Father and King
Scripture gives us a fuller picture.
God is perfectly loving. Perfectly holy. Infinitely merciful. Completely just. Approachable through Christ. Worthy of absolute reverence.
This produces both confidence and humility.
We run to God, not away from Him, but we never treat Him as common.
Love and Holy Fear Belong Together
Love and holy fear are not enemies.
Love draws us near.
Holy fear keeps our hearts surrendered.
Without love, fear can become legalism.
Without reverence, love can become casual and self-centered.
Love draws us near. Holy fear keeps us surrendered. Together they deepen intimacy.
Friends of God
Scripture uses remarkable language for God's relationship with His people.
Abraham is called God's friend.
Moses speaks with God with unusual closeness.
Jesus calls His disciples friends.
These descriptions do not reduce God's holiness.
They magnify His grace.
The holy God chooses to make Himself known.
Abraham: Friendship Expressed Through Trust
— James 2:23
Abraham's friendship with God was expressed through trust.
God called him beyond what was familiar.
Abraham did not understand every detail, but he learned to entrust himself to the One who called him.
Intimacy deepens when trust moves from theory into obedience.
Moses: Friendship Expressed Through Presence
— Exodus 33:11
Moses did not merely want instructions from God.
He wanted God's presence.
He understood that the greatest gift was not simply God's help, but God Himself.
The deepest gift of relationship with God is God Himself.
Jesus Calls His Disciples Friends
— John 15:14
Jesus connects friendship and obedience.
Not because flawless behavior earns friendship, but because genuine relationship includes trust, loyalty, openness, and shared purpose.
Friendship with Jesus is not familiarity without surrender.
Obedience Deepens Relationship
Week Four focused on obeying God's Word.
Week Five shows why obedience matters relationally.
Continual resistance hardens the heart.
Willing obedience keeps us responsive.
As we obey, we experience God's wisdom and faithfulness in ways that information alone cannot give us.
Obedience turns what we know about God into a history of walking with God.
Intimacy Requires Honesty
Deep relationships cannot grow through pretending.
God already knows our fears, questions, temptations, disappointments, failures, and desires.
Prayer becomes more intimate when we stop performing and begin speaking truthfully before Him.
Intimacy Requires Listening
Relationship is not one-directional.
We speak to God in prayer, and we listen to what He has revealed through Scripture.
His Word teaches us His character, priorities, promises, commands, and purposes.
The better we know His Word, the more accurately we learn His heart.
Intimacy Requires Time
Deep relationships rarely grow through occasional contact.
They grow through repeated presence.
Prayer. Scripture. Worship. Quiet. Gratitude. Obedience.
None of these practices earns God's love.
They create space to attend to the relationship He has already given us.
Intimacy Is More Than Emotion
There will be seasons when God's presence feels vivid and near.
There may also be seasons when prayer feels quiet or spiritual emotion is less intense.
Mature intimacy is not measured only by how strongly we feel in a moment.
We continue praying. Listening. Obeying. Worshiping. Trusting.
Covenant faithfulness can deepen relationship even when emotion changes.
Intimacy Changes What We Want
We may begin by seeking God mainly for guidance, help, provision, healing, or peace.
Those are legitimate things to bring to Him.
But intimacy grows when the deeper desire becomes:
God, I want to know You.
The gifts remain good.
But the Giver becomes the treasure.
Examine Your Relationship with God
- When I think about intimacy with God, what do I usually imagine?
- Do I tend to picture God more as a harsh judge, an indulgent grandfather, or the holy Father and King Scripture reveals?
- Is there a false assumption about God's character that affects the way I pray or obey?
- Do I approach God with confidence through Christ while still honoring Him with reverence?
- Do I primarily seek God's gifts, or am I increasingly learning to desire God Himself?
- Is there an area where resistance to obedience is affecting my fellowship with God?
- How honest am I with God about what is actually happening in my heart?
- What practice would help me become more attentive to God's presence this week?
Talk About It Together
- Why does Psalm 25:14 connect the fear of the Lord with intimacy and friendship?
- How can a distorted view of God distort our relationship with Him?
- What problems result from seeing God mainly as a harsh judge?
- What problems result from seeing God as endlessly permissive?
- Why is the picture of God as holy Father and King important for both confidence and humility?
- How do love and holy fear work together rather than against one another?
- What do Abraham, Moses, and Jesus' disciples teach us about friendship with God?
- Why can obedience deepen intimacy with God rather than interfere with it?
Psalm 25:12–14
Read Psalm 25:12–14 slowly. Notice what the passage connects with the fear of the Lord.
The passage begins with a person who fears the Lord. What kind of posture toward God does this describe?
God teaches the one who fears Him the way that person should choose. How are reverence and teachability connected?
The passage describes God's close counsel or friendship with those who fear Him. Why might reverence make deeper fellowship possible?
God makes His covenant known. Intimacy is grounded in who God is and the relationship He establishes with His people.
Reverence → Teachability → Fellowship → Deeper Knowledge
Father, thank You for inviting me near through Jesus Christ. Give me a true view of who You are. Correct every false picture that makes me hide from You or treat You casually. Teach me to know You as my holy Father and King— perfectly loving, perfectly holy, merciful, just, and worthy of all honor. Deepen my desire for You, not merely for what You can give me. Help me speak honestly, listen carefully, obey willingly, worship reverently, and remain attentive to Your presence. Make my life a growing friendship with You. In Jesus' name, amen.
Five Days in Scripture
What does this passage connect with fearing and trusting the Lord?
What does Moses desire from God, and what does this reveal about intimacy?
How are Abraham's faith, obedience, and friendship with God connected?
What does Jesus connect with love, obedience, remaining, and friendship?
On what basis can believers draw near to God with confidence?
For each reading, ask:
What does this reveal about God's character?
What does it reveal about relationship with Him?
What response of trust, reverence, or obedience is needed?
Draw Near with Reverence
Holy fear does not make us run from God. It teaches us to draw near without ever forgetting who He is.
See Him truthfully.
Receive His grace.
Honor His holiness.
Speak honestly.
Listen humbly.
Obey willingly.
Desire God Himself.
Love draws us near. Holy fear keeps our hearts surrendered. Together they form a life of reverent friendship with God.