Fearing Is His Will
Fearing Is His Will
By Shana Blunt
July 19, 2004
The anointed characters of the Bible had one thing in common - obedience. It’s not that they had more opportunity or a better heritage. God spoke, they obeyed, and we read the results throughout the Bible, their effects stretching for thousands of years, even into our daily lives. However, before the Red Sea parted by God’s commandment to Moses, before Job’s life was put under spiritual microscope, and before Isaiah saw the Lord high and lifted up, God was pleased with their obedience by fear. He used them because they recognized and reverenced him, and because they understood that the things He used them for had nothing to do with them. They had built a foundation of fear that allowed God to speak through them and to them.
Ecclesiastes 12:13 (KJV) says this: “Let us hear the conclusion of the matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.” Deuteronomy 10:12 (KJV), “And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul.” His first requirement of Israel was for them to hear Him! Our God is a God of order, so be sure fear is listed first for a reason. Following the verse with that understanding, you will see the things that His fear causes: to walk in His ways, love Him, and serve Him. By living with a foundation of fear, you will do those things because the knowledge of Him causes you to want to please and follow Him.
We have all struggled with the understanding of the “will of God.” To some, it’s an enigmatic representation of a future that we are supposed to try to obtain. Others feel it’s a design that God has mapped out for your life, nearly inescapable in its purpose. If you want to be in the will of God, this is one portion you will never have to question: He desires your fear as much today as He did of his people in the Old Testament.
Many become anxious when they think they might be “out” of the will of God, but choosing to have His fear will give you the direction that He intends for your life, and a mindset that still wants to please Him when those details aren’t clear just yet.
The fear of the Lord even gave me depth to my own prayers and worship. I became keenly aware of the fact that it did not matter at all how I felt; He was still worthy of my praise. Fear trumped selfishness every time, and each time I would try to simply sit there or worship halfheartedly (the old me), I was unsatisfied. The feeling of pleasing Him by sincere worship made me want to worship even more, and anything less was unacceptable to both the Lord and to me. I began to see my life as worship, not just my time in church. I had never wanted His attention so much, and I had never realized how much attention He was giving. I was finally seeing Him the way He had always seen me - with love and longing for a deeper relationship.
Look at Abraham. Many wonder how it must have been for him to take his son up that mountain, with full intent to slaughter him, based on the command of the Lord. I don’t believe it was as much faith as it was fear that drove him. He didn’t want to offend his Lord, and at the last minute, God spared Isaac and said, “NOW I know you fear me.” I think it’s noteworthy that God didn’t say, “Now I know you believe.” You can certainly believe in God and not fear Him, just like believing a light switch exists and has purpose but choosing not to flip it.
There is a relationship between believing and fear, because you can’t fear without believing. One who believes without actually fearing God says, “I chose to commit a certain sin, and God will not approve. I have to repent so I feel better about what I’ve done, and so that my record is clean.” One who fears says, “God has given clear indication about how He feels about this. I serve Him only, and not myself, therefore I cannot do this.” Fear focuses more on how God would feel, and less on how you would feel. It means that His opinion governs your decisions, and your flesh becomes less of a priority. Having the fear doesn’t make a person perfect and sinless, but a lot of decisions will not be struggles anymore. Once He is in the equation, everything else is smaller and less significant. Would God approve of certain conversations? If the answer is no, the conversation stops or never starts at all. What He thinks is more important than having that conversation.
Fear is obedience to God. We know that we were created to serve and worship Him, but so few actually fulfill that destiny. God never intended for us to live from service to service, filling up as if it were a gas station and returning when we were “low.” His design was always to have relationship with His people, and part of that relationship is fear. Many people shy away from relationship with Him, because they don’t have a proper concept of who He is. They see him as unfair or demanding, or they want to experience only the attributes of Him that are comfortable. We have access to the promised blessings and benefits, but there are things he requires. Nearly all of them begin with His fear. His fear causes our actions, thoughts and opinions to be governed by His reaction. By having His fear, we will please him, and only then He can reveal Himself to us. Revelation is given only by relationship. You wouldn’t want to tell everything about yourself to a perfect stranger, or even a mere acquaintance! God is the same way…He only shows the deeper parts of Himself to those whom He trusts.
To have His trust, we must show our trust in Him by obeying what He has asked of us. He will never hurt or embarrass you, though He might ask you to get out of your comfort zone. I am guilty of sometimes resisting His requests, wanting to stay in my safe little box. I would justify it by convincing myself it wasn’t really the voice of God, or that I might disrupt someone who is praying, or that someone else more qualified can do a better job.
It’s not about being comfortable; it’s about obedience. As your spiritual walk deepens, His voice will become unmistakable. He’s telling you to do something because He’s working through you, because He will equip you, because He trusts you to obey, and because it’s not about you. At that moment, when your will gets set aside for his purpose, God is pleased and He can say as He said of Abraham, “Now I know you fear me.”
ninetyandnine.com
© 2004, Shana Blunt
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home