~ Fear of God Causes Acute Attention
to God’s Word ~
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 ~ “When these things were done, the leaders came to me, saying, ‘The
people of Israel and the priests and the Levites have not separated themselves
from the peoples of the lands, with respect to the abominations of the
Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the
Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites.
For they have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and
their sons, so that the holy seed is mixed with the peoples of those lands. Indeed, the hand of the leaders and rulers
has been foremost in this trespass.’ So
when I heard this thing, I tore my garment and my robe, and plucked out some of
the hair of my head and beard, and sat down astonished. Then everyone
who trembled at the words of the God of Israel assembled to me, because of
the transgression of those who had been carried away captive, and I sat
astonished until the evening sacrifice” (Ezra 9:1-4).
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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