Picture, if you will, Jesus and his disciples standing outside a Pharsiee’s house debating the law, with the Pharisees trying to catch him in an error. A large crowd grows around them, all trying to hear the debate. Pushing closer to Jesus, the crowd grows thick and some people fall to the ground and are getting trampled. Jesus stops speaking to the Pharisees, turns to the crowd and tells them to beware of the Pharisees and their hypocrisy, and then he says, “I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after your body has been killed, has authority to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him.” (Luke 12:4-5)
We don’t often think of fear in relation to God anymore. We think of praising him, adoring him, or revering him, but few people speak of fearing God these days. I mean real fear, the sort the Israelites had at the foot of Mt. Sinai when they heard God’s voice.
For some reason in our generation fear has turned into a warm adoration like a child has when he sits on the lap of Santa Clause during the holidays. He’s such a jolly old man, isn’t he? He wants to give to all the good little girls and boys throughout the world his free gift of salvation which can be found in his bag colored by the red of Jesus’ blood. But who would actually fear him? Besides, haven’t you read in I John 4:17-18 that “Perfect Love casts out fear?” So why then would we fear him when we should only love him?
But the Bible also says that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. But if God is unchanging — the same yesterday, today, and forever — how does that work? Doesn’t perfect love cast out fear? Yes, but if you read I John 4 a bit closer you will find that John is talking about the sort of fear we have when we share the gospel with other people, not the good and proper fear of the Lord.
The fear of the Lord is exactly where the psalmist begins when he writes “Princes persecute me without cause, but my heart trembles at your words.” (Psalm 119:161) While we are all most likely afraid of those who can persecute us, incarcerate us, or even kill us, we are told that the only true fear is the fear of God’s words. Like the Israelites at the base of Mt. Sinai, the psalmist’s heart trembles upon hearing God’s words. He trembles because of the awesome power of God on display whenever God speaks and because conviction comes to him when he knows God’s law and knows that he stands guilty before him. We are unholy and in the wrong while God is holy and capable of punishing all wrongs. If that is not a cause for fear, I don’t know what is!
But watch where the psalmist goes next. In verse 162 he rejoices in God’s words in the same way that you might rejoice if you found buried treasure. How does he move from fear to joy so quickly? Normal fear makes us cower and hide ourselves like Adam and Eve in the garden, but the fear of the Lord makes us rejoice when we hear God’s words. This transition happens because while we
Most of us at times struggle to read the Bible, God’s word. But note that the psalmist says how he praises God SEVEN TIMES A DAY for his laws and his word. This is much different than most of us who merely carves out five minutes in the morning or evening to quickly blaze through some verses, no! This is a man who spends his entire day thinking on the word of God.
But how in the
The love of God’s word is what Psalm 119:161-164 is all about, but then there are the last four verses, 165-168 which tell us about following God’s ways. Oftentimes we have this reversed: we think by doing the right thing we will learn to love God, but
How do you love God, you might ask? Well, the same way you love anything else, you spend a lot of time and effort with it and getting to know it. It’s really that simple. And yet ironically, it’s that difficult too.
