Yesterday I stated, "Without realizing that God is absolutely supreme, all powerful, all knowing, we can't even begin to understand any of His words." Unintentionally, this statement provided the perfect lead in to what I wanted to focus on today..."the fear of the Lord." Before we can have a good grasp on this verse, we need to understand what the fear of the Lord really means.
Does it mean that we shake in our boots at the thought of God, afraid that He looks down with disgust and ready to shake His all-powerful fist at us, at the same time declaring His punishment for our latest transgression? I think that is the view that some people have of God, and they do fear Him, or better put, they are scared to death of Him. How do you ever form a positive relationship with someone that you have that kind of feelings toward?
When you look at the other places in the Old Testament where this word for fear (Hebrew "hary", pronounced yir-ah') is used, it is in the same context as when Abraham was in Egypt, and worrying about the beauty of Sarah, lied and said she was his sister instead of his wife.
"And Abraham said, 'Because I thought, Surely the fear of God is not in this place....' "
What does that indicate to you? Couldn't you just as easily slip in the word "respect"? What Abraham was saying was, "These people do not care about God or about obeying God."
So let's start off by saying that the fear of God is the absolute awe-filled reverence and respect we have for God...He is like no other. There is nothing that compares to Him. As I stated yesterday, when we fear God we recognize His absolute supremacy, His absolute power, His absolute knowledge and wisdom. Until we do that, we cannot begin to understand any of the knowledge that He is ready to share with us.
"The fear of God is....astonished reverence. I believe that the reverential fear of God mixed with love and fascination and astonishment and admiration and devotion is the most enjoyable state and the most satisfying emotion the human soul can know." A. W. Tozer
Beautiful!
Does it mean that we shake in our boots at the thought of God, afraid that He looks down with disgust and ready to shake His all-powerful fist at us, at the same time declaring His punishment for our latest transgression? I think that is the view that some people have of God, and they do fear Him, or better put, they are scared to death of Him. How do you ever form a positive relationship with someone that you have that kind of feelings toward? When you look at the other places in the Old Testament where this word for fear (Hebrew "hary", pronounced yir-ah') is used, it is in the same context as when Abraham was in Egypt, and worrying about the beauty of Sarah, lied and said she was his sister instead of his wife.
"And Abraham said, 'Because I thought, Surely the fear of God is not in this place....' "
What does that indicate to you? Couldn't you just as easily slip in the word "respect"? What Abraham was saying was, "These people do not care about God or about obeying God."
So let's start off by saying that the fear of God is the absolute awe-filled reverence and respect we have for God...He is like no other. There is nothing that compares to Him. As I stated yesterday, when we fear God we recognize His absolute supremacy, His absolute power, His absolute knowledge and wisdom. Until we do that, we cannot begin to understand any of the knowledge that He is ready to share with us.
"The fear of God is....astonished reverence. I believe that the reverential fear of God mixed with love and fascination and astonishment and admiration and devotion is the most enjoyable state and the most satisfying emotion the human soul can know." A. W. Tozer
Beautiful!
1 comment:
I have felt fear most when I haven't reached out and asked Christ to lead my life. I like what you said, "The fear of God is....astonished reverence." God calms my fears.
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