SCRIPTURE:
“Fear of the Lord is the foundation of true wisdom. All who obey his commandments will grow in wisdom. Praise him forever!”
Psalms 111:10 (NLT)
OBSERVATION:
In this short psalm of praise, the author tells of the great, mighty, and merciful works of the LORD to His people.
The first few verses tell it; “...everything He does reveals His glory and majesty. His righteousness never fails.” (V 3)
Then the writer tells of God’s provision, His guidance…His sovereign hand making room for His people in lands once belonging to other cultures...wait, what?
Yes. He has shown His power by giving His own people the lands of other nations.
Problem with that? Should we forget that HE IS THE LORD, with no other? That He has eviction rights for the whole earth? That this world IS HIS AND ALL ON IT?
How then, do we reel ourselves back to that reality?
The last verse; “Fear of the LORD is the BEGINNING of wisdom.”
APPLICATION:
I honestly think that this is one of those things that God needed to insert into His Word that we take in daily, because we sometimes need a holy reality check.
I think that too often we have conveniently sidestepped the true fear of the LORD for the modern notion that God is our friend, hangout pal, and gossip buddy...that He is there to listen to us whine and pout and also to give us things we want...wait—oops!...
Sometimes we don’t even have one ounce of the healthy fear of God.
The terrifying anger He contains when His people ditch His commands to do crazy things that He never instituted...back then it was sacrificing of children in a burning altar...nowadays it is the overloaded practice of superstar pastors and mega-churches with holy appearing activity, and unbalanced worship (or attention) to social media, leading to the focus on the imagery of life and not the giver of life, who ought to be feared in a healthy way.
So what then does that look like?
Simply, obedience to the scriptures, which Jesus has said are summed up in the two greatest commandments.
Love God, love each other. Is that too hard to exhibit a healthy fear of God?
PRAYER:
Lord Jesus, forgive me when I forget to fear You in a healthy way.
May I be reminded of all Your awesome works. How good and merciful You are. Amen.
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