~ Fear of God Causes Careful Attention
to God’s Commands ~
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 ~ “Now while Ezra was praying, and while he was confessing, weeping,
and bowing down before the house of God, a very large assembly of men, women,
and children gathered to him from Israel; for the people wept very
bitterly. And Shechaniah the son of
Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, spoke up and said to Ezra, ‘We have trespassed
against our God, and have taken pagan wives from the peoples of the land; yet
now there is hope in Israel in spite of this.
Now therefore, let us make a covenant with our God to put away all these
wives and those who have been born to them, according to the advice of my
master and of those who tremble at the
commandment of our God; and let it be done according to the law. Arise, for this matter is your
responsibility. We also are with
you. Be of good courage, and do it’”
(Ezra 10:1-4).
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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