The Fear of The Lord

 

 

 

The fear of the Lord is not to be scared of Him but to have a reverential trust for His as well as hatred for evil. We will not get any wisdom from a God that we are scared to approach, so what God needs from Him is respect and honor, not running away from Him. Psalm 89:7 says that "the Lord is to be greatly feared in the assembly of the saints and to be held reverence in the assembly"

James 4:8 says that we should draw near to god and He will draw near to us. We are the ones that determine how close we will get to the Lord.

There are 2 types of the presence of God:

1. The omnipresence of God- God is everywhere, even at the pub or night club but that does not mean He is manifesting Himself there. Psalm 139:7

 

2. The manifest presence of God- This only comes when and where God is reverenced. Every believer must experience this. Someone who is afraid of God cannot experience the manifest presence of God. The manifest presence of God will not be experienced in a church service where God is not honored or reverenced, the same thing in the life of a believer who has no regard for God or His Word.

 

The person who is scared or afraid of God has something to hide (sin most of the time). So if you find yourself not wanting to come in the presence of God, check your life.

 

These are some considerations for the fear of the Lord:

 

a. The fear of God is to be afraid to be away from Him

 

b. We must honor and respect Him more than anything or anyone in the universe.

 

c. We must be willing to hate sin with a passion

 

d. We must always tremble at the Word of God and obey Him and His Word instantly. Delayed obedience increases the possibility of disobedience. Abraham woke up early the next day to take Isaac to sacrifice him. He did not delay.

 

e. We must obey Him even it doesn't make sense. It didn't make sense to Abraham to have to sacrifice the promised child that he waited 25 years for. He obeyed anyway

 

f. Obey even if it hurts. Know that God always has something better and He will guide you through it.

 

g. Obey even if you dont see the benefit.

 

h. Obey to completion. Incomplete obedience is as bad as disobedience. A word from God that you hear and obey will prosper you more that 10 words you hear and don't obey.

 

God makes friends with those who fear and obey Him...Psalm 25:14 says that He shares His secrets with those who fear Him. NLT says He has friendship with them. No wonder He called Abraham His friend. God was so close to Abraham that He, the Maker of heaven and earth said in Gen. 18:17.."Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?. God even went ahead to confer with Abraham about what He had in mind about the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Frienship with God comes with fringe benefits I will say. For one thing, you will always have the inside information.

 

Today as New Testament believers, the Lord Jesus has called us His friends.. John 15:15. But we need to keep the frienship line open through reverential trust of our God, honoring Him in all that we do and worshipping Him at all times with respect and honor.

Blessings.