Acquiring the fear of sin

Acquiring the fear of Sin

THE MANNER of acquiring this fear is to reflect upon two truths. The first is that the Divine Presence is found everywhere and the Blessed One looks to all things, great and small, nothing being hidden from His eyes, whether by its magnitude or by its smallness. Great and small, imposing and humble alike, He sees and understands without distinction. As stated by Scripture (Isaiah 6:3), “The whole earth is filled with His glory” and (Jeremiah 23:24), “Do I not fill heaven and earth?” and (Psalms 113:5), “Who is like the Lord, our God, who sits on high, who stoops to look upon heaven and earth” and (Ibid. 138:6), “For God is high; He sees the lowly and knows the proud from afar.” Once it has become clear to one that wherever he may be, he is standing before the Presence of the Blessed One, there will come to him of itself, the fear and trepidation of going astray in his actions so that they do not accord with the majesty of the Blessed One. As it is stated (Avoth 2.1), “Know what is above you: a seeing eye, a listening ear and a book in which all of your deeds are inscribed.” Since the Holy One Blessed be He looks to everything, sees everything and knows everything, it follows that all actions leave an impression.