Tag: fearing God

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Deuteronomy Devotionals

All of me

Path of faith

Be careful to do as the Lord your God has commanded you; you are not to turn aside to the right or the left.

Follow the whole instruction the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live, prosper, and have a long life in the land you will possess (Deuteronomy 5:32–33)

Father, your words are life.

So help me not to turn aside to the right or to the left of what you say.

Help me to leave behind my old way of thinking and follow your whole instruction. Not just a part of your instructions, nor all parts but one. But all.

Give me a heart to fear you. To honor you.

I want to give you all of me. In Jesus’ name, amen.

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Exodus Devotions

Not a tame God

Moses responded to the people, “Don’t be afraid, for God has come to test you, so that you will fear him and will not sin.” (Exodus 20:20)

A paradoxical statement to be sure.

“Don’t be afraid,” Moses says.

But in the next breath, he says, “Fear God.”

How do we balance the two statements?

Perhaps the best way to balance them is with this truth: God is good. But he is not a tame God.

We cannot control him.

We cannot manipulate him.

When dealing with a holy and all-powerful God, people should be afraid. We don’t dare take him lightly.

For the day will come when he will judge all those who hate and rebel against him. (5)

And when we see that judgment fall on people, we should fear. Because all of us have sinned. All of us deserve that judgment.

But God is also good. He is never capricious. He is never malicious.

More, he sent his Son so that we don’t have to be judged.

Now to those who love God and receive his Son, God shows his faithful, never-ending love. (6)

When we sin, God may discipline us, but as with Solomon, he will never take his love away from us. (2 Samuel 7:14-15)

And because of that, we don’t have to be like the Israelites, standing at a distance from God, fearing his judgment.

Rather, like Moses, we can draw near. (18, 21)

So let us fear God. But let us not be afraid of him.

Instead, let us draw near. As John said,

In this, love is made complete with us so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment, because as he is, so also are we in this world.

There is no fear in love; instead, perfect love drives out fear, because fear involves punishment. (1 John 4:17-18)

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Proverbs Devotionals

Fearing the Lord

The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life,
turning people away from the snares of death. (Proverbs 14:27)

As I read that this morning I couldn’t help but think of something similar Solomon said a chapter earlier.

A wise person’s instruction is a fountain of life,
turning people away from the snares of death. (13:14)

What does it mean to fear God? Part of what it means is to listen to his word and obey it.

How often, though, do we act as if we know better than God? We look at his word, and say, “I don’t agree with this. This way of thinking is outdated.”

But as Solomon said,

There is a way that seems right to a person,
but its end is the way to death. (14:12)

Satan is a dishonest witness. He is the father of lies. The world around us is buying his lies and is trying to get us to buy them too.

But we can’t afford to listen to them when they speak contrary to God’s word.

Jesus, on the other hand, is a true and faithful witness. He never lies. More, his words of wisdom turn us away from the snares of death and give us life. (Proverbs 14:5, 25, Revelation 3:14)

In fact, it is because of his guilt offering offered on the cross for our sins, that we now are accepted by our Heavenly Father. (Leviticus 5:6; Proverbs 14:9)

So let us fear God, trusting and obeying him. And let us teach our children to do the same so that they may find strong confidence in him too. (14:26)

God is a fountain of life. Let us fear him and drink in his words of life every day.

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Psalms

When we put God first

Psalms

So many of us seek happiness in our lives. We seek it in our families, we seek it in our jobs, and we seek it in financial security.

But in this psalm, we see the key to true happiness. The psalmist writes,

Blessed are all who fear the LORD,
who walk in his ways.

You will eat the fruit of your labor;
blessings and prosperity will be yours.

Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house;
your sons will be like olive shoots around your table.

Thus is the man blessed who fears the LORD. (Psalm 128:1–4)

In other words, when we honor God first in our lives, and we choose to do things his way, he will bless us.

So many people are so worried about their finances that they work to the neglect of their families and their health.

The result: they don’t “eat the fruit of their labor.” They die before their time, or lose their families in their attempt to find financial security.

But for the person who honors God, he promises to not only bless their finances, but their families as well.

When husbands love their wives as God commanded, and fathers raise their children in the way the Lord has told them to, then their wives and children will flourish.

Needless to say, this goes for wives as they honor their husbands, and children as they obey and honor their parents. They’ll find God’s blessing as they do so.

But I think it’s important to note that most, if not all, of the commands concerning the family go to the husbands and fathers first and then to the wives and children.

So men, let us step up to the plate and follow God, doing the things he’s commanded us. And see if God won’t do as he has promised.