Fear God – Part 2
Now therefore, be wise, O kings; Be instructed, you judges of the earth. Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. – Psalm 2:10-11 NKJV.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline. – Proverbs 1:7 NKJV.
Obviously, this kind of fear, a fear of God is something that we should want to have and need to have. So, what is the Bible talking about here? When the Bible talks about fearing God, it is primarily talking about reverence for God; respect for God. It is somewhat like electricity. I have a healthy respect for electricity, and I fear what might happen if I was careless around electricity or misused it in some way. I do not have a reverence for electricity, but I do respect it, and in some ways fear it. We know what the power of electricity can do. Some of us may have been shocked by it in the past, or we may know others personally who have been injured by electricity.
One of the problems that we have before we come to a proper understanding of the power of God, the awesome character of God, Who is all powerful, all knowing, and Omnipresent – is that we may not have personally experienced Him. Oh, we may come to church, we may read our Bibles, we may pray, we may serve Him, and we may even know Jesus as our personal Savior. But we have never actually, personally experienced how wonderful and powerful God is. When we have actually experienced God working in our lives, when are eyes have been opened to the miraculous, we will then go beyond a respect for God, to having a reverence for God.
This is what happened for the Prophet Elisha’s servant in 2 Kings 6: “And when the servant of the man of God arose early and went out, there was an army, surrounding the city with horses and chariots. And his servant said to him, ‘Alas, my master! What shall we do?’ So he answered, ‘Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.’ And Elisha prayed, and said, ‘LORD, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.’ Then the LORD opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. So when the Syrians came down to him, Elisha prayed to the LORD, and said, ‘Strike this people, I pray, with blindness.’ And He struck them with blindness according to the word of Elisha (2 Kings 6:15-18 NKJV).”
After the Syrian king’s servant told him that the Prophet Elisha was telling the Israel king everything that he had planned, he had a simple solution. That solution was to try to capture and kill Elisha. What happened for Elisha’s servant was that his eyes were opened. He could see what the Prophet Elisha could see!
There is no reason to fear the enemies of God, because God is far greater than anything upon this earth, or anywhere else. You have to think that the soldiers in the Syrian army had their eyes opened too. This is what we are told in 1 John 4:4, “You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.” Once we have a proper reverence, respect for God, we then become fearless in the face of whatever this world may bring our way. Why is that? “…because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.”
If you do not have a fear of God, I pray that your eyes, and heart may be opened as were those of the servant of the Prophet Elisha. Because as Solomon says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge….”
(If you do not have a fear of God, I pray that your eyes, and heart may be opened as were those of the servant of the Prophet Elisha. Because as Solomon says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge….”)