The Fear of God

 Many people live with a fear of man. What I mean by that is they respect people and how they think of them. They want to be accepted and loved, so they do what others want them to do. Others live out of selfishness. They are always trying to get everything to make them happy and to have pleasures. Either way, they are not living out of the correct type of fear or respect, which is the fear of God. Nehemiah lived his life by the fear of God. (Nehemiah 5:15) He did not do what the previous governors had done by asking the people for bread and wine. He did not impose a tax on the people for his support. His servants did not domineer the people. All of these things would have gone against his fear of God. We all need to understand this principle for our lives each day.

The fear of God is multifaceted. It means to respect God so much that we do what He says and what He would do in every situation. It means that we do have a healthy fear of what God will do to us, if we act in a way that dishonors Him. The fear of God is only caring about what makes God happy, not about what makes the people around us happy. He is the Lord, and He is the One who matters the most. When we act out of the fear of God, we will still love others. In fact, we will love them like He does. When we fear the Lord, we will not sin, because we will be afraid of His anger toward our sins. Also, when we live in the right fear of God, He will see that our hearts are right, and He will meet our needs, so we do not have to be selfish, at all. I pray we all will live in the fear of God each day.

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Tomorrow, I intend to read Nehemiah 6-9.