Fear the Lord

Who or what do you fear? What a great question. During my life I have feared many, many things. Let's name a few; sleeping in my own bed as a child, failure, disappointing people, academic eligibility in college, my wife or children getting hurt or sick. Now these are just tipping the iceberg, but my point is that we all have things we fear in life, but do we fear the One we should? I'm currently in a bible study on the book of Isaiah, so this and many blogs may come from this study. The night we were going through chapter 8 I was having difficulty focusing due to being so tired, but when we got to verse 11 I was immediately awakened. Isaiah 8:11-14 commands us not to fear man, but to fear the Lord. As I read this I had an instant burden on my heart. I fear so many things, but do I really fear the Lord. To answer honestly, I don't think I always do.

So let's answer the question, What does it mean to fear the Lord? Proverbs 1:7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction. If to fear the Lord is the beginning of knowledge it must mean that we know of His greatness, His love, His almighty power and we love, respect, and FEAR letting Him down. That is my take. Relate it to your parents. Most love and respect their patent's and thus they fear doing something against their wishes. There is no difference in theory, but our fear of the Lord should far surpass that of any earthly thing. This verse goes on to say that if you do not fear the Lord, then you are a fool.

As I thought about this, I realized how so many of us fear the things of this world and those fears drive us to sin. Not just sin of not fearing the Lord, but other sins. For example; why do most teenagers start to drink alcohol? I would say the majority do because of peer pressure and the FEAR of not being accepted by the "cool" people. Now if these teenagers feared the Lord and feared sinning against Him, they may make a better choice. I know many may be saying, wait a minute, drinking isn't a sin. We can get into that another time, but for this example, it is sin. For one, teenagers are under the legal age and thus not obeying authority. Hebrews 13:17 Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you. Secondly, they are drinking alcohol excessively with the goal of getting drunk. Ephesians 5:18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit. This is just one example that I'm sure many of us can identify with. But think about it and try to relate this to many decisions we make or have made in life. Would we have made more Godly decisions if we would have thought, what would God think of this choice, instead of how it is going to affect us here on earth. The decision may not be the easiest, but would be the right one in the Lord's eyes.

My challenge for us all is to think about our choices and things we may fear at this very moment. Put those things in the hands of the Lord, trust in Him. Cast your fears upon Him. And fear the Lord. Exodus 14:31 Israel saw the great power that the LORD used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the LORD, and they believed in the LORD and in his servant Moses.