#GeraldsDevotional
Fear God – The Beginning of Wisdom?
In yesterday’s devotional, I explored the idea that there is no fear in love and that God’s perfect love casts out fear. Yet the bible also teaches us in Proverbs 9:10 that “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom.” Is this a contradiction? I would submit to you that it
is not at all a contradiction and here is my reason for you to consider.
It is ironic that Proverbs 9:10 was written by Solomon whom God blessed with great wisdom. When we look at the whole of Solomon’s life, we see that he lived a life of great excess with somewhat of a selfish
focus. He had great riches and bought whatever he wanted and what should we remember and take note of all of his wives? What does God’s Word say about family and husbands and wives? See 1 Timothy 3:2. No, in spite of all of his wisdom, Solomon’s life was far from perfect. Yet at
the end of his life as he reflected back on it, Solomon gave us one final word of wisdom at the end of Ecclesiastes. This word (our devotional scripture for today) talks about that same fear from Proverbs 9.
This use of fear does not have the same meaning as being scared or
afraid. Solomon is talking of fear as in reverence or respect. We fear Him in this manner when we recognize and honor Him for who He is and how great He is. We put things into perspective recognizing how He is all-powerful, all-knowing, just pure and holy, and most importantly,
WE ARE NOT. With that understanding, we honor Him, fall down on our knees and worship Him along with all of the rest of His creation and the angels (the heavenly host). We are driven to do this not because we are afraid of punishment, but because we are in awe of Him and His
character.
Finally, the fear of being afraid of being zapped or punished by Him is a central theme in the good news of the Gospel. Jesus took that punishment so now we don’t have to be afraid at all of our Father and can run BOLDLY to His throne, even when we make mistakes.
We run to Him, once again, in awe of His character and incredible love for us. There is no fear (fright) in that kind of fear (reverence).
These are the final words of Ecclesiastes, Solomon’s ultimate advice to his son after reflecting back on his life:
13 That’s the whole story. Here now is my final conclusion: Fear God and obey his commands, for this is everyone’s duty. 14 God will judge us for everything we do, including every secret thing, whether good or bad. - Ecclesiastes 12:13
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“Faith, Hope and Love… the greatest of these is love…” When we have given our lives completely to God, His perfect love overshadows us and begins to develop a love like His in us. That type of love (based on faith in Him) can not co-exist with fear. What do we tend to fear
these days? The list goes on and on. One of the long-established fears is that of death.
The good news is that when it comes to death, we go back to the title of this devotional. Death was never part of God’s design in creation (what He described as “very good” in Genesis 2).
Six years ago today as I awoke, the Lord showed me the famous word He gave to Jeremiah in chapter 18 about the Potter and the clay. He showed me some basic things about this famous metaphor to give insight and comfort. First, just as He did in the beginning when the LORD created
man, here again He gets very personal with the clay, getting His hands involved in the shaping and molding (getting them dirty). There are two very opposing laws at work during this process. 1) The law of sin and death which is always trying to remind the clay that it is simple
I had a dream last night that I was on the run for my life, being chased in hot pursuit by a group of adversaries. Have you ever had one of those types of dreams that brings about a somewhat restless night that bordered on tossing and turning? My dream involved running through
unfamiliar buildings and at times jumping between high roof tops, at times scaling tall trees and jumping from branch to branch and tree to tree. All the while my adversaries could see me, were in constant pursuit and strategizing how they might trap me. But they never could.
This is the theme that the LORD placed on my heart this morning. He sends us into the world to be His light in darkness. He calls us to be steadfast and unmovable in His truth just as He is… in Him there is no variableness or shadow of turning (James 1:17).
Satan wants us to
compromise on what God says, beginning even with very small things. He wants us to barely crack open the door often offering little subtle justifications to depart from what God’s word says… compromises that seem good on the surface. In the end, their purpose is to control us.
#GeraldsDevotional
When There’s Nothing Left to Say – Where Do You Look?
In these days when we can often feel betrayed, defeated, taken captive by hostile forces (basic freedoms ripped away) and as days of futile efforts, this is how the LORD woke me up this morning. He reminded me that our feelings can be misleading and what we see is not always as
it seems. When He guided me to this chapter and I read it (not knowing what I would even be able to write this morning), verse 11 really spoke to me along with, of course verse 15.
3 And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all
This is the burden that the LORD placed on my heart as He woke me up this morning. The most common command that He gives in the bible is for us NOT to be afraid. He says please note that this is a command, not a guideline or a suggestion.
Then He pointed me back to the 3
epistles of John near the end of the bible. We looked at them last month where John was giving words of encouragement and reminders to a church of believers that was struggling to endure. There were efforts from a small group within them to bring division and fear and John told