True worship is neither its own end, nor a feeding of the gods, as in the pagan mentality. It is a response of the believer to the grace of God, offered freely and in conformity with the fact that the believer loves God and is only too happy to have the honor of giving to Him that portion of the believer’s wealth that already belonged to God anyway.
An Exegetical and Expository Commentary on the Minor Prophets, Thomas McComiskey ed, Baker, 2000, p. 1355.
Fearing God is not a matter of being terrified of Him as if He is always angry, or arbitrary and capricious in His dealings so that one should always be wary of what He might do. Rather, believers fear God’s wrath if He is not obeyed. Thus “fear” functions as a shorthand for “fearing the consequences of disobeying,” and often for just “not believing in or taking Yahweh seriously” (Jer. 5:22; 32:39).
An Exegetical and Expository Commentary on the Minor Prophets, Thomas McComiskey ed, Baker, 2000, p. 1359.
