Two Important Beginnings
Barbara Henderson
In the beginning……
and
The fear of God is the beginning…..
The first verse of the first book of
the Bible says, ‘In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.’ Now that was a beginning! God Almighty created everything out of nothing. The next verses and chapters tell the order
of creation and the names of the first two people. The book of Genesis goes on to give to
mankind a brief history of the events in the lives of the first people and the
generations that followed. By reading Genesis we know the beginning of mankind,
the world, all creatures, and the beginning of sin and sorrow.
All the people born into this world of
sin are looking for something better. It
is hard to figure out what to do to make a better life. We need wisdom and knowledge for our own good
and for the good of people around us. The Bible tells us how to begin. We begin by fearing the Lord.
Psalm 111:10
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of
wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments: his praise
endureth for ever.
Proverbs 1:7
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of
knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
What
is the fear of the Lord?
The fear of the Lord is reverent
awe.
God is the One who created you.
God is the One who has power to give
eternal life.
God is the One who has power and
authority over all the kings of the earth.
God is actually does know everything;
He is everywhere; and He is all powerful.
God tells us repeatedly that He loves
us.
He also tells us that He hates sin,
and that there are consequences for the sins of the individual.
I think the beginning of the ‘fear of
the Lord’ is to take God seriously.
When you start to take God seriously
then obedience follows. You begin to
work at actually doing the things He says to do
Proverbs 16:6 tells us, ‘By mercy and
truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the LORD men depart from evil.’
When a person starts to take God
seriously he or she begins to change what they do. What is serious to God becomes serious to
that person.
Proverbs 22:4 says, ‘By humility and
the fear of the LORD are riches, and honour, and life.’
This proverb gives us a few of the
benefits of fear of the Lord.
Psalm 34:11-14 instructs believers in
developing an attitude that fears the Lord.
11. Come, ye children, hearken unto
me: I will teach you the fear of the Lord.
12. What man is he that desireth life,
and loveth many days, that he may see good?
13. Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy
lips from speaking guile.
14. Depart from evil, and do good;
seek peace, and pursue it.
These verses are pretty straight
forward.
We are to listen and learn the fear of
the Lord.
We are promised a better future by
fear of the Lord.
We are given specific instructions on
‘how’ to show fear of the Lord.
Watch your mouth! Don’t speak evil. Remember the old adage ‘what’s in the well
comes up in the bucket’. That means what
is in your heart is going to come out your mouth!
Memorize Philippians 4:8 which
instructs us, ‘Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things
are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever
things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any
virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.’
What evil are you doing? Well – whatever it is – stop it! Depart from evil. By the way, ‘evil’ is anything you are doing
wrong. It probably isn’t murdering people or embezzling millions from the
bank. It is more likely gossip,
complaining, fits of temper, blaming other people for things over which they
actually have no control, giving less than your best at home or at work, small
lies, procrastinating, and many other things that seem small and
unimportant. However, they are important
to God. If you fear Him, you will work
at departing from evil.
When you make an effort to stop doing
things God calls evil, you suddenly have time on your hands. More to the point, you have time on your
mind. If you aren’t gossiping you have
to find something to do with the time spent gossiping. If you aren’t blaming people for your
problems you have to have something to do with that time as well. Verse 14b tells us ‘seek peace and pursue
it’.
God is clear that we are to fear
Him. He is also clear that we are not to
live a life of fear of anything or anyone else.
One reason to hold God in reverent awe is that He is our protector and
our helper. We are to fear God. Because
of His help we do not need to fear the world.
A simple quote regarding fear is this;
‘“The remarkable thing about God is that when you fear God, you fear nothing
else, whereas if you do not fear God, you fear everything else.” Oswald
Chambers
We hear a great deal about ‘no fear’
in the world today. I am sure you have
seen people of all sizes and ages wearing t-shirts with the motto ‘no fear’
plastered all over it. Big deal. My personal opinion is that in most cases the
‘no fear’ motto means they are going to do what is right in their own eyes
without regard to fear of God or even the laws of man. It often means an excuse to act stupidly. This is not what the Bible is talking about.
Fear is something that is used to keep
us from harm and direct us to safety.
Irrational fear or disregarding consequences is something else entirely.
The Bible instructs us not to fear man
or circumstances. We don’t have a reason to fear man or circumstances because
our God is so great.
Psalm 118:6 says, ‘The LORD is on my
side; I will not fear: what can man do unto me?’
Hebrews 13:6 says ‘So that we may
boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto
me.’
Isaiah 41:10 says, ‘Fear thou not; for
I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea,
I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my
righteousness.’
The fear of God actually strengthens
believers to go forward. When God is
helping you, you have a mighty helper.
In Psalm 71:16 the Psalmist says, ‘I will go in the strength of the Lord
GOD: I will make mention of thy righteousness, even of thine only.’
Psalm 46:1 promises us that ‘God is
our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.’
We know the beginning of the earth
from Genesis 1:1
We know the beginning of wisdom is the
fear of the Lord.
We know that wisdom is available to us
because James 1:5 says, ‘If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that
giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.’
Obedience is the key. Ecclesiastes 12:13 instructs us, ‘Let us hear
the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for
this is the whole duty of man.’
It is summed up fairly well in the old
hymn ‘Trust and Obey’. That should be
the motto of every Christian. ‘I will
trust God, and I will obey Him.’ That
would be the beginning of a better life for every believer.
Trust
and Obey
When we walk with the Lord in the
light of His Word,
What a glory He sheds on our way!
While we do His good will, He abides with us
still,
And with all who will trust and obey.
Refrain
Trust and obey, for there’s no other
way
To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.
Not a shadow can rise, not a cloud in
the skies,
But His smile quickly drives it away;
Not a doubt or a fear, not a sigh or a tear,
Can abide while we trust and obey.
Refrain
Not a burden we bear, not a sorrow we
share,
But our toil He doth richly repay;
Not a grief or a loss, not a frown or a cross,
But is blessed if we trust and obey.
Refrain
But we never can prove the delights of
His love
Until all on the altar we lay;
For the favor He shows, for the joy He
bestows,
Are for them who will trust and obey.
Refrain
Then in fellowship sweet we will sit
at His feet.
Or we’ll walk by His side in the way.
What He says we will do, where He sends we
will go;
Never fear, only trust and obey.
Refrain
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.