Saturday, October 10, 2020

Life to the Fullest - Teach us the Fear of the Lord

"The reverent, worshipful fear of the Lord leads to life, and he who has it rests satisfied." (Prov 19:23 Amp).  Therefore, consider God's invitation in Psalm 34:11-12, "Come, you children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord.  Who is the man who desires life, and loves many days that he may see good?" Do you see that walking in an attitude of fear of the Lord is designed to give you good, to fill you with abundant life, and cause you to rest satisfied?   Amazingly, this quality is so important to God, that He promises to teach whoever is willing to come to Him.  He has promised more blessings and powerful results from this attitude than any other in Scripture.  

Fear of the Lord is defined in Proverbs 8:13 as "to hate evil; pride and arrogance and the evil way."  This attitude or spiritual quality is the description of Jesus in Hebrews 1:9, who loved righteousness and hated evil for which God honored Jesus by anointing Him "with the oil of gladness more than your companions "  Psalm 19:9 states that the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever.  Psalm 34 assures us that the angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him and adds that there is no want to those who fear Him  

Sometimes this term is confused with being afraid, which obviously is a negative result of anticipating evil, but the perfect love of Jesus casts out all fear.  The contrast is found in the words of Amazing Grace, "who taught my heart to fear, and by grace my fears relieved." He is truly an awesome God, all-powerful, infinitely wise and holy, the creator of the universe, so it is no wonder that Psalm 33 declares, "Let all the earth fear the Lord, let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him."  We could and probably should be afraid of Him if we did not know His heart.  However, knowing the love of God, who was pleased to have His own Son beaten and brutally slaughtered just to save us, makes us realize He also is awesome in His love which takes away my fear of evil and fills me with peace.  

Learning the fear of the Lord is an awesome realization of the glorious privilege of having the living God dwell inside us.  God Himself has chosen to make His home in us.  So in response to who He is and all He has done, what else can we do but desire and choose to please Him.  Notice the intimacy of this relationship found in Psalm 25, "the secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him and He will show them His covenant."  God delights in the fear of the Lord (Isaiah 11:3).   

Each one of us has the most important appointment of our life still coming up.  That is the day when we stand before God and our whole life passes before us.   In Psalm 36, when the Word describes the wicked as "having no fear of God before his eyes" and that he "flatters and deceives himself in his own eyes that his iniquity will not be found out and hated.''  Wrong choices with be not only revealed but hated.  On the other hand, those who walk in fear of the Lord now, will experience the "Well done, good and faithful servant" and rejoice over every time we chose to obey the prompting of the Holy Spirit, love righteousness (and hate evil), and honor God by doing His Word.    

The purpose of this word is to encourage you, put another log on your fire to be holy, and remind you that the Holy Spirit is here to guide you into all truth.  Listen to Him.  May each of us be willing to learn the fear of the Lord and have no regrets when we stand before the living God to receive our eternal reward.  In the name of Jesus, let it be so. 


 




No comments:

Post a Comment