The fear of God...

Image courtesy of http://thewordin365.wordpress.com

"Moses said to the people, 'Do not be afraid; for God has come in order to test you, and in order that the fear of Him may remain with you, so that you may not sin."--Exodus 20:20.  Moses, just after the Ten Commandments had been given.  The people were afraid of what would happen to them due to the magnitude of God's power and were afraid of even hearing God's voice.  Here we see at work the fear of God. 

The fear of God.  I think here in Exodus we see illustrated most vividly what it means to have the fear of God.

The fear of God. Proverbs 1:7 tells us the the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.  Before anything else, we must first learn to fear God but the question is what does it mean to have the fear of God?

The fear of God.  Well if we look at Exodus, we see that the fear of God is a genuine fear of God's power.  This is contrary to the opinion that the fear of God is simply a respect for God.

The fear of God.  The word fear here does mean to have a reverence for but it also means to be genuinely afraid of something for whatever reason.

The fear of God. From Genesis 1 all the way to Revelation 22, we see God's power at work.  His power at work is seen from creation of the universe to the plagues brought on Egypt prior to the Exodus to the victories and defeats of Israel depending on whether or not they obeyed and feared God as they entered the Promised Land.  God's power is also seen most victoriously in His ability to conquer death and save us from our sins through our Lord Jesus Christ.  These are just a handful of examples.  But God's power is also seen in more gentle ways in that blind men were healed, the lame walked and the deaf could hear.

The fear of God.  This was all done why? So that the fear of God would remain with us and that we would obey God.

The fear of God.  Something I encourage you to do is go through the Old and New Testament and write down each time you see God's power in action.  Do this especially in the gospel accounts that we see God's power worked through Jesus Christ.

The fear of God.  Remember God's power is far more awesome than any power we will witness in this world both in the grandest of ways and as in the healings we see in the Bible, in the most gentle of ways. I leave you with Ecclesiastes 12:13: "The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to EVERY person." (Emphasis added).

DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! PRAY ABOUT IT! LOVE Y'ALL! GOD BLESS!