March 10 – Delivered From Fear

“I sought the Lord, and He answered me, And delivered me from all my fears.”  Psalms 34:4  (ESV)

Fear can be debilitating can’t it?  Fear and Anxiety are close to the same thing.  Fear can be a warning for us.  It might make us wary and alert and ready to react.  Hopeful anticipation for something good is sometimes called being anxious and isn’t harmful.  But Fear that leads to serious anxiety causes us to question our standing or faith in God’s promises. It is not physically or spiritually healthy.  God tells us may times “Fear Not,” and “Do Not Be Afraid.”  This is the fear we do not need if we trust God and His Word.  About 220 times ‘fear not’ and 100 times ‘do not be afraid,’ are found in the Bible.  King David knew real fear.  He feared for his life when Saul, the King of Israel was after him.  That kind of fear is upsetting and is very different than the call for us to “fear the Lord” which is an attitude of awesome humble respect of the Lord God our creator.  Our promise is in this verse from David’s psalm. When we seek the Lord, he answers. He delivers us from all fears that weaken our trust and faith.  

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May 7 – Awe-inspiring Fear

“Praise the Lord! How blessed is the man who fears the Lord, Who greatly delights in His commandments.” Psalm 112:1 (NASB) 
“He will not fear evil tidings; His heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord.”  Psalm 112:7 (NASB)

These promises in these verses are, of course, written for all of people created by God and who are therefore all equal in His sight.  We include these two verses this way because we believe that they describe the kind of person who follows this blog.  We are therefore thankful and take great delight in hearing the suggestions which God has given in the Bible as to how we should live.  When we pay attention to the teaching which God has given us in the Bible it does give us the ability to not shrink in fear when we hear of evil that is at work in the world. Rather, these  promises give us courage and strengthens our hearts so that we are standing firm and trusting in the Lord our God.  We trust our Lord because of who He is and our fear of Him is an awesome respect of Him.  We do not cower from God but we submit to His awe-inspiring authority over all things and submit to His will.  We do not have to cower from evil news either because God Almighty is our God and we recognize that all things come from Him.  So we take hope and delight in following in His way and commandments no matter what we encounter in our life.   

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April 29 – Awesome Respect

“Praise the Lord! How blessed is the man who fears the Lord, Who greatly delights in His commandments.”  Psalm 112:1 (NASB)

When the words in our Bible tell us that those who fear the Lord are blessed, we should recall that it's talking about respect and awe of God.  God is pure and good, perfect in every way and He deserves our reverence and respect.  We don't 'fear the Lord' out of a sense of being afraid but out of a sense that God  is so Great and Mighty, he deserves the sense of awe that we have for Him.  We don't try to bring God down to our level and treat Him as an equal for He is not that at all.  But, we lift Him up and recognize how He has done great things for us who don't deserve it.  In this verse we hear the Lord praised.  If we look carefully we will discern that God's awesomeness is the source of our delight when we follow His commandments. He has not left us alone to fine out way by ourselves for that would result in us stumbling along, unsure of what is next.   We are serving our God out of love and full respect - that is how we fear our Lord and trust Him.  We show Him reverence and we receive blessings and guidance  in return.  

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