Fear God, 6

~ Some of Pharaoh’s Servants Feared God ~

God does not want His children living in fear.  “Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue” (2 Peter 1:2-3).  However, God does want His children to have a proper respect and reverence for Him.  We are told in many places in Scripture to “fear God.”  

This Week’s Passage  ~  “Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Rise early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh, and say to him, “Thus says the Lord God of the Hebrews: ‘Let My people go, that they may serve Me, for at this time I will send all My plagues to your very heart, and on your servants and on your people, that you may know that there is none like Me in all the earth.  Now if I had stretched out My hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, then you would have been cut off from the earth.  But indeed for this purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth.  As yet you exalt yourself against My people in that you will not let them go.  Behold, tomorrow about this time I will cause very heavy hail to rain down, such as has not been in Egypt since its founding until now.  Therefore send now and gather your livestock and all that you have in the field, for the hail shall come down on every man and every animal which is found in the field and is not brought home; and they shall die.’”

“Those who feared the word of the Lord among the servants of Pharaoh made his servants and his livestock flee to the houses.  But he who did not regard the word of the Lord left his servants and his livestock in the field” (Exodus 9:13-21).    

Comment  ~  Once again we see that those who truly fear God act upon their understanding of God—it changes their behavior.  In our next post in this series we pick up this historical account where we have left off. 

Fearing God Results in Salvation  ~  “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 10:31).  “A wise person fears and departs from evil, but a fool rages and is self-confident” (Proverbs 14:16).  This does not mean the Christian is to live a fearful life—but a life which reverences God and seeks to do His will. 

Fearing God Results in Fearlessness  ~  “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?  The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” (Psalm 27:1).  The answer is: only God.  With the gift of salvation comes responsibility.

Fearing God Results in Witnessing  ~  “Come and hear, all you who fear God, and I will declare what He has done for my soul” (Psalm 66:16). 

~ Robert Lloyd Russell, ABUNDANT LIFE NOW

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