Do You Fear God?
Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth—to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people— saying with a loud voice, “Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment has come; and worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water.” – Revelation 14:6-7 NKJV.
And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment. – Hebrews 9:27 NKJV.
Daniel Robbins in Chambers County, Alabama killed his girlfriend, Jessica Folds. He dragged Jessica’s body out of his pickup truck to drag the body where he planned to bury her. Robbins never finished the burying because he had a heart attack and died. The autopsy found that Jessica had been strangled and also indicated the heart attack of Robbins. Daniel Robbins’ ex-wife told law enforcement that he had a heart condition of some kind.
Someone called into the Sheriff’s Department and reported there were two people that had been found who were unresponsive. When deputies arrived at the scene, they found the driver’s side door open and the lights of the truck still on. They found the bodies on what appeared to be a path along which Jessica’s body had been dragged. (Story reported in “Not the Bee.” 07.01.26)
The apostle Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:11: “Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are well known to God, and I also trust are well known in your consciences.”
How would Paul know “the terror of the Lord?” It was likely when he was struck blind by the Lord while Paul was on his way to persecute the believers in Damascus. It definitely got Paul’s attention and changed the course of his life.
Because of Paul’s encounter with the risen Lord Jesus on that dusty road to Damascus he was no longer Saul the persecutor, instead he became a mighty apostle of the Lord. God then used Paul to write much of the New Testament and spread Christianity to the Gentiles, although his people the Jews were always on his heart.
Have you ever been struck blind? It happened to me when after I steered a motorcycle a little the wrong way and ran up a fence post. I fell through a barbed wire fence, and my head hit the ground hard. When I stood up, I could not see it was all black. It took less than an hour before my sight returned as the blackness fell away like scales from my eyes. It certainly got my attention.
What would it take for God to get your attention? In 2 Timothy 1:7 we are told “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” However, we are to have a fear of the God (Revelation 14:7), and you can translate fear as reverence. Because “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God (Hebrews 10:31).
Perhaps Daniel Robbins should have had some fear, some reverence of God. What about you? Do you have it?