The fear of the Lord (4)

'God is outrageous in blessing people who fear Him', I wrote in my previous post. Now, we don't fear the Lord because we want to be blessed (although that would be a good reason), we fear Him because He is God!

I know that sounds too simple. But the Bible says we should fear Him because He is the Creator. Let the whole world fear the Lord, and let everyone stand in awe of him. For when he spoke, the world began! It appeared at his command (Psalm 33:8-9).

We should fear Him because He is holy. Who will not fear you, Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy (Revelation 15:4).

We should fear Him because He is great among many other gods and idols He stands out. There is only One like Him. Great is the Lord! He is most worthy of praise! He is to be feared above all gods (Psalm 96:4).

And maybe most of all, we should fear Him because He is love! He loved us before we loved Him. He gave His Son to die for a sinful world. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him (Psalm 103:11).

Fearing God means giving Him the awe and respect He deserves. We are called to fear God, not people!

The fear of the Lord (3)

When we give our respect and admiration to people we might get disappointed, because people and their ideologies can change over time.

God, however, deserves our respect and admiration because He is faithful, truly good, and He never changes. He is the great I am!

As Creator, He is supreme over all things which means mankind is subject to Him, whether we like this or not. To respect God or in other words, to fear the Lord is a sign of true humility... but it does not mean that we get treated as slaves. On the contrary! 👉Fearing God has great blessings attached.

True humility and fear of the Lord lead to riches, honor, and long life (Proverbs 22:4)

You gotta be kidding me. Riches, honor, and long life! Who doesn't want that? And there is more, believe it or not. God is outrageous in blessing people who fear Him 😍

• Those who fear the Lord are secure; he will be a refuge for their children. Fear of the Lord is a life-giving fountain; it offers escape from the snares of death (Proverbs 14:26-27). The fear of the Lord is a life-giving fountain! Does that sound negative, or scary, or religious? Of course not, it will be the joy in our lives to honor the Lord.
• Fear the Lord, you his godly people, for those who fear him will have all they need (Psalm 34:9). Oh my goodness, to have all you need, to never lack any good thing... that will end all worries and all anxiety, right?
• For the angel of the Lord is a guard; he surrounds and defends all who fear him (psalm 34:7). Hey, we live in a crazy and wicked world, we need a guard who surrounds and defends us!

All these great blessings for fearing God, isn't it wonderful? There are other reasons why we should fear the Lord as well, more about that in the next blog post.

The fear of the Lord (2)

Proverbs 9:10 says: The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

This world is in dire need of wisdom, supernatural wisdom! So, if it begins with the fear of the Lord, it makes sense that we have to find out what that means exactly, right?!

Well, the fear of the Lord or the fear of God does not mean that we should be afraid of God, that we should have an unhealthy or slavish fear. The Hebrew word for fear as mentioned in Proverbs 9:10 is יראה (yirah) and it means reverence or awe.

About the first believers, it is written that they lived in the fear of the Lord (Acts 9:31): Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace and was strengthened. Living in the fear of the Lord and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers.

It is clear they did not live in fear, for they enjoyed a time of peace and were encouraged. They had reverence for God, which means: deep respect, high regard, admiration, worship.

👉Why should we fear the Lord? Because He is the Creator of all things and all people, and He is holy, just, righteous, loving, kind, patient, gracious, and forgiving. If we humble ourselves and stop acting like we have it all together, but instead acknowledge Him as supreme God, He will bless us:

True humility and fear of the Lord lead to riches, honor, and long life (Proverbs 22:4).

Oh my goodness, one has to be crazy not to fear the Lord! It is not just that the Lord deserves our admiration, there are many blessings attached. More about that in the next blog post.

The fear of the Lord (1)

I think many people will agree with me as I say that there is a huge lack of wisdom nowadays. Oh my goodness, the plans and decisions governments, political leaders, organizations, and corporations are making... some are so far out, that they would be funny if they weren't so sad.

'Where is wisdom in all of this?' I quite often hear people say this and it made me think of something the Bible teaches in Proverbs 9:10: 

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

Hm, let's turn that around for once. 👉Where there is no wisdom, there is no fear of the Lord. That makes sense, doesn't it? It would be unbiblical to expect great wisdom from people who do not fear God.

So, let's stop blaming people for making unwise decisions if they have no fear of the Lord. According to the Word of God wise and unwise decisions are connected to the spiritual state people are in.

Now, the fear of the Lord, what exactly does that mean? How do we know whether we fear the Lord or not? What does the Bible teach us about the fear of the Lord? I decided to write a series of short blogs about this topic. God alone knows how much we need this. May wisdom increase as we learn to fear God!

I hope you want to join me in reading and sharing these blog posts.

How to stay hopeful and joyful

We live in a weird, wild, wicked, and wonderful world. Although it is not exactly what God had in mind when He created it all and saw that it was good... His eyes are still on this universe, our planet, and all people.

Although God wanted all people to live in peace, prosperity, and a good relationship with Him, they decided they knew better and preferred to do their own thing. And what a mess we made of it all!

I have been there, I have done that, and I am so glad the Lord stopped me in my tracks twenty years ago and set my feet on higher ground. He brought me back to Himself (thank you Jesus) and to His Word and because of that, I know now, it is possible to stay positive in a negative world.

👉Does the Bible have the answers for today, then? Yes, I truly believe so. Every day I feed myself with truths that are the total opposite of what the world wants me to believe and that gives me great joy! Let's look at what the Bibles says about a few of the most common emotions people are dealing with today.

• FEAR - God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging (Psalm 46:1-3)
• ANXIETY - Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you (1 Peter 5:6-7)
• UNCERTAINTY - For I am certain that nothing can separate us from his love: neither death nor life, neither angels nor other heavenly rulers or powers, neither the present nor the future, neither the world above nor the world below — there is nothing in all creation that will ever be able to separate us from the love of God which is ours through Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:38-39)
• HOPELESSNESS - For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope (Romans 15:4)
• LACK OF PEACE - Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid (John 14:27)

Well, you get the idea, right? It seems to me that for every negative word in the world there is a positive one in the Bible. But they will do nothing for us if we do not read and meditate and feed ourselves on those words. Do it, do it today!