The fear of the Lord
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What is it that you fear most?
How do you think you would handle facing that fear?
Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in his ways!
To understand the fear of God lets establish a few things first
Who is God
Who is God
We know He is the creator but the full meaning and implications can easily get lost.
Lets get scientific for a moment.
Light travels very very quickly
In 1 second light can travel enough distance to circle around the world 7.5 times
Even with this speed the light from the sun takes over 8 minutes to get here (480 seconds). Thais 93 million miles away.
Our universe is so large that the measurement for distance that is commonly used is called light years. The distance that light can travel in an entire calendar year.
Its estimated that the universe is 46 billlion light years.
SO the fastest thing that can travel, it would take 46 billions years to get from one side of the universe to the other.
I read this
Isaiah 40:12 (NIV)
Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens?
God has measured the waters in all the oceans and can measure the heavens (the univere) with the span on His hand.
God has no beginning and no end.
He has no equal and no enemy capable of doing anything that would put him on the defensive.
We talked about the universe, lets look at heaven
In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke.
Isaiah had this vision on Heaven.
God’s robe filled the temple. We see these angels called Seraphim with 6 wings, 2 covering their face, 2 covering feet and 2 for flying.
Then they say with a loud voice HOLY HOLY HOLY. The call is so great, so powerful that the foundations of heaven shake.
This incredibly powerful being who can shake the heavens with their voice, the reason why they have wings covering their face is because they are not even able to look upon God.
Who are we
Who are we
Man is like a breath; his days are like a passing shadow.
As for man, his days are like grass; he flourishes like a flower of the field; for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more.
Do you ever think about all the millions of people that live before you?
We know very few of those people. 99.99% of them that have died have been forgotten about and no one will think about them the more time passes.
You and I are in the same boat, in 200 years the most that would become of any of us is a name on family ancestory page.
In the larger picture, even thinking about the most important of people on earth. We are just living on a rock hurling through space, and all of us are just grains of sand on this rock who fear the opinions of other grains of sand but we dont fear the God who created everything.
If the comparison of God and us didnt move you yet consider this statement.
We want everyone around us to fear God
We want everyone around us to fear God
Fear of the Lord will cause you to do less evil, and
Fear of the Lord will cause you to do more good.
God commands that we live peaceably with all men Romans 12:18
He commands that we love one another, not steal, not cheat, not lie.
If we know that fear of the Lord would make people obey God would you want your
Neighbor to fear God?
Parents?
Maybe you had great parents, but if you didnt wouldnt it be good to have parents who feard God and maybe your father or mother would make some of the decisions that left you scarred for life?
Even more personal. The person you want to date, who you will be transparent with. Will know your secrets and weird thigns about you. Do you want them to kfear God>?
Q: What other kind of people would it be good for them to fear the Lord?
Police officers - especially since they are there to server justice
Lawyers -
Doctors
Politicians
Our coworkers - our managers and CEO's of companies taht run this country.
What about your Financial planner?
Even strangers
Ladies, the man that you pass up in a dark wally walking by yourself. The thing that you would want most during that time should be that person fears God.
A little fear of God and he would leave you alone if he thought anyone is watching (Thats not even if the person believes in God)
A little more fear and he would leave you alone even if if he didnt think anyone is watching
Still more fear of God and that strange man would return your purse to you that you dropped a while back. Because its the right thing to do. Again even if he doesnt give credit to God for creating him with morality.
But then An all encompassing fear of God and he would stop you and anyone who passes by to ask. "Do you know who Jesus Christ is?"
If we can agree that it would be good for everyone around us to fear God then it also applies to us. We need to do the same.
Our world is broken and there is this idea that to fix it we need more love. But Im telliing you that there is plenty of love in all kinds of ways
People are lovers of themselves
lovers of fortune and fame
Lovers of money
Love has been turned upside down to mean anything and everything.
I think what we really need is for a nation to fear God again.
We spent a lot of time in the verse so lets keep going. Now that we see what it is and that its good, what does the rest of the Psalm say.
You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands; you shall be blessed, and it shall be well with you. Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house; your children will be like olive shoots around your table. Behold, thus shall the man be blessed who fears the Lord. The Lord bless you from Zion! May you see the prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of your life! May you see your children’s children! Peace be upon Israel!
Q: What happens as a result of fear of God?
Eat the fruit, - You will work for something and be able to enjoy it.
Sounds like an obvious statement but we take this for granted.
The Israelite have been enslaved and exlied many times. It wasnt uncommon for them to work for someone else and they get little to nothing in return.
2nd - Your wife will be like a vine and your children like olive shoots.
Q:Is this promise guaranteeing that everyone who fears God will be married and have 2.2 kids?
No, this is a general blessing not a guarantee. If it was then Jesus, some of the disciples and others in church history really miseed out.
Those each were seens as big blessings back in those days and they still are. The larger idea is this
When you fear God that will slowly make you more trustworthy, hard working, honesty, forgiving, patient, kind, generous, slow to anger.
That will affect every part of your life.
The fear of God is unique than most other fears. A lot of the the other things that we fear is because they mean us harm but God means us good. Even when He does mean us good not everone will be blessed
And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
My closing statement is this
Whatever that you do should start, continue and end with the Fear of God. Pray for that for your life and for everyone around you.
