Learning to Fear the Lord
The fear of the Lord is a very healthy fear. We are not to fear other people or what they can do to us. We are to fear the Lord and trust Him to guide us and protect us from what others can do. Then, we begin to know wisdom, since it starts with the fear of the Lord. Most people do not really fear the Lord. Since they can't see Him, He is not as real to them as people and the things of this world. However, God is even more real than the things of this world, because He is eternal, and He is in control of all that goes on here. We need to learn to fear the Lord, and one of the best ways to do it is to read the Bible from cover to cover. That is why God commanded Moses to tell the leaders of His people to read the whole law to every man, woman, child, and the resident aliens who lived with them, (Deuteronomy 31:11,12) He commanded this for the times they all came to Jerusalem for the special gatherings. They were to listen as it was read and learn to fear the Lord and then, be careful to keep all of the law, since they knew what God would do if He was angry with them. I think this is one reason we all need to read the Bible through each year today, too.
Many Christians do not have a systematic plan to read through the Bible. In my opinion that is one of the reasons that most believers are not spiritually mature. Yes, I know it is long. I know it has passages that are very detailed and can be boring. However, every part of the Bible was inspired by God, and it was given to us to help us. God told us not to add to it or take away from it. Therefore, if we do not read it all and know it all, we are taking away from it, as far as our life is concerned. When we read the Old Testament, it may seem harsh. God may have told them to kill people, and He may have done some things which we do not fully understand, but those things help us learn to fear the Lord. We cannot predict that He is always going to be easy on us. In fact, we cannot know what He will do in certain situations. That should cause us to trust Him more, out of a healthy fear, and obey the commands in His Word for us. I pray that we, as Christians, will take this passage to heart, and we will begin to read and absorb the whole Word of God. I believe it will lead us much closer to the Lord than we have ever been before.
#NHBaptistdotorg
Tomorrow, I intend to read Deuteronomy 32-34 and Joshua 1.