Thinking about the fear of the Lord. It is the beginning of wisdom. Psalm 111:10.
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom;
A good understanding have all those who do His commandments;
His praise endures forever.
If you're struggling, maybe it's time to fear (revere) the Lord. We tend to boil Him down to our own understanding and theologies.
God delivered the Israelites from Egyptian slavery and half way home to the Promise Land, Moses heads off to talk to God, THE God, and the Israelites convince Aaron to make a golden cafe for them to worship.
A couple of things here. First of all, they called the cafe God. Not any of the gods they knew in Egypt, but THE God. Yet, He was confined to something they could see and control. God was subject to their own hands, so they thought, in that golden cafe. Man, how often do we do that? How many golden cafe's do we have in our lives. Come on, think about it.
We make graven images all the time in the form of rituals, traditions, jewelry, tee-shirts, etc., (re: Jesus junk) even philosophies and mind-sets.
Second, they gave up so easily. Moses wasn't gone all that long before they twisted Aaron's arm. Don't get me started on how easily Aaron caved. It's challenging to me. Will I cave when the pressure comes. Lord, let it not be.
Rachel, you might be thinking, aren't you the one who sang "Favorite One" at the ACFW conference? Yes! But being God's favorite and fearing Him are not mutually exclusive.
Because I fear Him, I know Him. Therefore I'm confident in His love for me and can come boldly before His throne, favored. Now, it doesn't mean I run around doing my own thing, chucking God in the ribs saying, "How's it going big guy?"
No! It means I understand completely who His is and am awed that He loves me.
Jesus found delight in fearing the Lord. Isaiah 11:3!
We can be like Him. Delight in fearing the Lord. Think on it for awhile. I know I will.
Thank you for this writing Rachel, it is a good one for all of us.
ReplyDeleteLove Mom