I want to post the seven statements he used to describe what is involved in acting out this phrase in our daily lives. These will help clarify that we are not to run from God in fear as if he is a lion wanting to devour us.
- Fear of the Lord is about your concern for His glory
- Fear of the Lord is about living your life as a child of God
- Fear of the Lord is about moving beyond "What should I do?" to "How should I do it?" and "Why should I do it?"
- Fear of the Lord is not about studying God but about having reverence for God
- Fear of the Lord is about accepting the mystery of His will in your life
- Fear of the Lord is about realizing that you are always in His presence, and living like it
- Fear of the Lord is about realizing that you are not God, and living like it
It begs the question, am I chasing my own tail in life trying to attain the things of this world? or am I living in Fear of the Lord? Where are my priorities? Are the God's? If not it is time for re-evaluation and prayer.
I will be re-evaluating and praying.
1 comment:
A guy named Luke Hendrix, head of Church Next, came and spoke at the Ethnos men's retreat about the Pathway to Godliness, and the first step, in his conclusions, is the fear of God.
Proverbs says that fear is the beginning of wisdom. I think that fearing God is absolutely essential to worship. Fear of the Lord has a lot to do with the things you mentioned, but it also has to do with recognizing that God is completely holy, completely set apart, and completely other. He is not like you and I. I think when we get a glimpse of understanding into this, then our vision and worship of God explodes.
There is an amazing story, most of it in 2 Samuel 6, about David reclaiming the ark of God. There's a whole lot to it, but basically David sends 30,000 men to get the ark, some people mishandle it by putting it on a cart and touching it, they die, and David lets it sit in some guy's house for 3 months trying to figure out what to do. Finally, he and his army go again, and they treat the ark as God layed out for them in the law. As they carried it back to Jerusalem, they set it down after every 6 steps and had a worship service, because they were so thankful that God had sustained them those 6 steps, while in His presence, and they were still alive. So they worshipped.
That is a powerful, powerful image of the fear of the Lord, and what it does to our worship and our lives. It demonstrates how to treat the glory of God, and the respect and healthy fear we should have of him.
There are times when we go to church and don't really sing, don't really invest in people, and don't really interact much in general. Maybe we're not in the mood, or maybe we don't like the songs or they are repetitive. I think that if we aren't at church worshipping with our faces on the ground, it doesn't have anything to do with the music or the service or the people. I think it has everything to do with our vision of God. I think if we had the vision of God that David did, our worship would be through the roof. I know that mine would. Because, as you've said, we are constantly in the presence of God. David learned what that meant, that if the glory of God isn't given it's proper fear and respect, it means death. I think if I treated God's presence like that, my life would be a lot different.
Cool topic, Brian.
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