May 9, 2022
Monday
Fear Factor
Psalm 111:10
“Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.”
In Hebrews 4:1 we are told to “fear” and in Isaiah 41:10 to “fear not.” These are not contradictions, of course, but different uses of the word fear. For example, the fear of God is reverence and awe that leads to wisdom (Psalm 111:10). Ironically, it is such a healthy reverence for God that leads us to “fear not” (human emotional fear) in the face of life’s challenges. When we rightly fear God, we will not fear anything the world sets before us.
When the writer of the Hebrews told his readers to “fear lest any of you seem to have come short of [God’s eternal rest],” it is a gentle, but serious, reminder: The entirety of our life, temporal and eternal, is in the hands of God. By failing to live for Him we run the risk of not enjoying the temporal and eternal blessings He has for us. The issue is not loss of salvation, but loss of joy and eternal reward.
How focused is your fear factor? Reverence and awe of God are the beginning of wisdom and blessing.
A point to ponder…
It is only the fear of God that can deliver us from the fear of man.
John Witherspoon
Read the Bible through in a year
I love you!!!
© 2000-2022 B. Michael Goerlich