~
The Israelites Were Commanded to Fear God, 8 ~
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.”
Comment ~ In
this week’s passage we find Moses commanding the Israelites to fear God
resulting in obedience to God.
This Week’s Passage ~ “Now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and
the judgments which I teach you to observe, that you may live, and go in and
possess the land which the Lord God
of your fathers is giving you. You shall
not add to the word which I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you. Your eyes have seen what the Lord did at Baal Peor; for the Lord your God has destroyed from among
you all the men who followed Baal of Peor.
But you who held fast to the Lord your
God are alive today, every one of you.
“Surely I have taught you
statutes and judgments, just as the Lord my
God commanded me, that you should act according to them in the land which you
go to possess. Therefore be careful to
observe them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of
the peoples who will hear all these statutes, and say, ‘Surely this great
nation is a wise and understanding people.’
“For what great nation is
there that has God so near to it, as the Lord
our God is to us, for whatever reason we may call upon Him? And what great nation is there that has such
statutes and righteous judgments as are in all this law which I set before you
this day? Only take heed to yourself,
and diligently keep yourself, lest you forget the things your eyes have seen,
and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. And teach them to your children and your grandchildren,
especially concerning the day you stood before the Lord your God in Horeb, when the Lord said to me, ‘Gather the people to Me, and I will let
them hear My words, that they may learn
to fear Me all the days they live on the earth, and that they may teach
their children’” (Deuteronomy 4:1-10).
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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