Likutei Moharan 87:1/ליקוטי מוהר"ן פ״ז:א׳

1“Give truth to Yaakov, kindness to Avraham.” (Micah 7:20)

2It is the case, as we see empirically, that as soon as a person wants to follow the path of the upright, he is beset by harsh judgments. Reason would dictate otherwise.

3However, fear of God has two forms: fear of punishment and fear of [His] exaltedness. Fear of punishment is called justice. Fear of [His] exaltedness is called faith; he fears Him because he believes wholeheartedly that God is “Master and Ruler and the Supreme Source of all the worlds” (Zohar I, 11b) .

4Now, it is known that faith cannot be attained except by means of fear of punishment. Because he fears punishment, he believes that God is powerful, masterful and omnipotent. And through this he attains greater faith.

5Thus it is that as soon as a person wishes to follow the path of the upright, he must possess the fear called justice. <Justice is an aspect of harsh judgments, as in> “He judges the world with justice” (Psalms 9:9). Therefore, harsh judgments are aroused against him. Nevertheless, <afterwards, once he has progressed from level to level and attained the aspect of > faith, all the harsh judgments are then <eliminated and> mitigated at their source.