Isaiah 8:10, 12-13 They take counsel together, but it will come to nothing; speak a word, but it will not stand, for God is with us. Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. But the Lord of hosts, him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread.

What stood out in these verses was the phrase, “Him you shall honor as holy,” in the midst of this talk of fearing conspiracies. It’s not that there are no conspiracies. The Pharisees conspired against Jesus. But we don’t need to take any heed of the plots of man. They are in a room thinking they are all clever thinking up their plan. Satan is behind them thinking he’s all clever pulling together his plan. God laughs at it all because the best they can do is be used to carry out His divine purposes. Why would we fear that?

In fact, according to this Scripture, we are not honoring God as holy if we are fearing what the world fears, if we are fearing the conspiracy and the evil plots of men. If we want to honor our Lord, we need to fear God alone.