Fear of the Lord has been on my mind lately, I guess it really should be more often, but one of the drawbacks of being human is I digress, repress, forget or just simply don’t take the time (the devils playground seems to be my humanistic, emotional mentality). Anyway, while I was reading Jeremiah 7 it hit me again. God tells His people (over and over) that they continue to ignore His command – “I gave them this command: Obey me, and I will be your God and you will be my people. Walk in obedience to all I command you, that it may go well with you.” (v. 23) and I too have been given this command but continue to “not listen or pay attention; instead, they (I) followed the stubborn inclinations of their (my) evil hearts. They (I) went backward and not forward.” He sounds angry...“Has this house, which bears my Name, become a den of robbers to you? But I have been watching! declares the LORD.” (v.11), “The Lord has rejected and abandoned this generation that is under his wrath” (v.29), “I will bring an end to the sounds of joy and gladness” (v.34). Those all sound like things I should fear…
So I wonder, what is fear of the Lord? Is it the fear of what He could do to me (basically obliterate me in the blink of an eye, even just a thought) or is it the fear of what He could stop doing for me (all the stuff He protects me from on a daily basis and I just seem to take it for granted)? The Psalms have several verses on fear (here are just a few):
- Serve the LORD with fear and celebrate his rule with trembling. 2:11
- The fear of the LORD is pure, enduring forever. The decrees of the LORD are firm, and all of them are righteous. 19:9
- Who, then, are those who fear the LORD? He will instruct them in the ways they should choose. 25:12