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Getting To Know God - Part 2 |
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Introduction |
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When an individual begins to muse on
God, it is my suggestion that it can
flow into one of three avenues: |
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a) |
The individual will be content to be
saved, staying with the basic
knowledge, that being, I know God
is. |
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b) |
I can take a broad knowledge of the
attributes of God. He is holy,
infinite in power, unmeasurable in
love, dreadful in wrath. All I know
then is data about God. |
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c) |
I can seek to live in fellowship
with Him and yield to His good
pleasure, thereby getting to know
Him personally. |
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d) |
I will also learn that the natural
me can find a multiplicity of things
that distract my attention,
interrupt
my praying, make flat the word of
God, and suddenly find this month’s
Reader’s Digest needs to be read
right now. Often, an individual may
feel they are spiritually comatose,
aware of what is happening and of
eternal truths, but not really in
spirit with the Lord’s Spirit. The
truths of God, the judgment of
believers, the Great White Throne,
eternity, Heaven and Hell are words
and expressions, but while the mind
of the individual knows these
things, the spirit of the individual
is nonchalant and detached from the
realities. I submit it is due to
our casual attitude toward God that
results in such characteristics. |
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The Fear of the Lord |
The expression, “The fear of the
Lord” occurs in 30 verses and all
except Acts 9:31 occur in the Old
Testament.
The fear of the Lord is a
reverential awe due to the glory of
His person, the unwavering
absoluteness of His character, the
majesty of His throne, the
fearfulness of being the object of
His wrath, the infiniteness of His
power, the awareness of His
omnipresence, omnipotence, and
omniscience.
He is not “the big man upstairs”
or
“daddy”. Contrary to
modern casualness and lack of
spiritual understanding, Abba (Mk.
14:36) does not mean “Daddy”.
Since the fear
of the Lord is the
beginning of knowledge (Prov. 1:7),
the beginning of wisdom (Prov.
9:10), and is the instruction of
wisdom (Prov. 15:33), those who are
unsaved have a right to fear God in
alarmed anxiety for God is angry
with the wicked every day
(Psa.
7:11).
For His own there ought
to be a holy awe for, “God is
greatly to be feared in the assembly
of the saints, and to be had in
reverence of all them that are about
him (Psa. 89:7). |
Examples of those who feared God |
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It has ever been the purpose of God
to make Himself known, which He does
through creation, self-revelation,
and providential activities. His
Names: |
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1) |
Joseph (Gen. 42:18) |
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a) |
One can feel so sorry for him. The
despising by his older brothers is
understandable because he was a
little tattletale (Gen. 37:2), and
the father did not help the
situation by spoiling him (Gen.
37:3). He was also a somewhat
egotistical young man because while
the first dream came from God and
therefore was fulfilled (Gen.
37:5-8),
the second was not. In it he dreamt
his father and mother came and bowed
to him (Gen. 37:9). That did not
happen because his mother never came
down to Egypt and bow before him, as
she had died (Gen. 35:16-18). How
dark and unjust were the experiences
he had when he was lied about (Gen.
39:13-20). When his brothers came to
buy corn, instead of getting even,
he showed abundant kindness to those
who had done him so much wrong
(Gen. 43:23-31; 45:1-11).
In a nutshell, “he feared God”,
therefore did not seek to retaliate
in any way but sought their
blessing. Joseph feared God (Gen.
42:18). |
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2) |
Moses |
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a) |
Moses knew what it was to spend time
with God. Time uninterrupted by the
things on earth, yet when God
manifested His dreadfulness at Sinai
Moses said, “And so terrible was the
sight, that Moses said, I
exceedingly fear and quake” (Heb.
12:21). |
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3) |
Job |
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a) |
Surely Job is among the great men
recorded in the Bible who had a fear
of God. The beginning of the book
of Job states, “There was a man in
the land of Uz, whose name was Job;
and that man was perfect and
upright, and one that feared God,
and eschewed evil” (Job 1:1). Even
though Satan was given liberty to
afflict and bankrupt him, he was
unmoved in His faithfulness to God.
So true that God stated, “And the
LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou
considered my servant Job, that
there is none like him in the earth,
a perfect and an upright man, one
that feareth God, and escheweth
evil? and still he holdeth fast his
integrity, although thou movedst me
against him, to destroy him without
cause” (Job 2:3). Job feared God, a
fact Satan acknowledged (Job 1:9).
Three times it is recorded he feared
God. |
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4) |
Obadiah |
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a) |
While we do not read much about
Obadiah, what is said of Him shows a
very spiritual man. He held a place
of importance in the government of
Ahab, a very wicked king. When the
fury of Jezebel, Ahab’s wife, was
vented, her desire was to cut off
the prophets of the Lord. Obadiah
took one hundred and secretly hid
them in two places, feeding them
bread and water. Twice it is
recorded concerning his fear of the
Lord (1 Kgs. 18:3, 12). He is the
only
person
(I am aware of) to whom it adds the
word “greatly” in describing his
fear of the Lord (1 Kgs. 18:2). |
What can I learn from these men who
feared the Lord? |
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When there was a working knowledge
and reverential fear of God, it
resulted in some cases of: |
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a) |
Humiliation before exaltation, like
Joseph. |
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b) |
Suffering before abundant blessing,
like Job. |
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c) |
Being told to do things that are
naturally against the desire to
live, for he rejected the command of
evil King Ahab, like Obadiah. |
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d) |
Being given great intimacy with God
and then being brought to a deeper
level, like Moses. |
Prayer
John,
by the Holy Spirit, wrote, “And the
nations were angry, and thy wrath is
come, and the time of the dead, that
they should be judged, and that
thou shouldest give reward unto thy
servants the prophets, and to the
saints, and them that fear thy name,
small and great; and shouldest
destroy them which destroy the earth
(Rev. 11:18). Thank God He has
mercy on us and is still giving us
time to seek His help and to fear
His Name. |
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. . . . Rowan Jennings |
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