LEARNING DAILY

 

Psalm 34:11, Come you children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord.

 

Yesterday, I wrote about the need to fear the Lord and what that meant.  The reality is too many do not!  First, the fear of the Lord comes with one’s relationship to Him.  In Kyle Idleman’s book Not a Fan, he writes that every individual must “define the relationship with an individual at some point to determine the level of commitment”.  He goes on to say that you and I need to define our relationship with Jesus Christ. He asked the following questions to help us do just that.  Is your relationship with Him exclusive (or are there other gods in your life)?  Is your relationship with Him a casual weekend thing or has it moved past that?  How would your relationship with Him be defined?  What exactly is your level of commitment?

 

Did you stop reading to consider these questions?  Perhaps that is a good place to start in order to gain an understanding of the fear of the Lord.  Let me ask another question.  How does one learn to fear the Lord?  Think of the number of years many people spend in “becoming educated” in their particular field of interest.  Think how long it takes for a doctor to become a doctor; I am quite thankful a college degree does not qualify an individual to do any sort of surgery!  I have not found any courses at any level of education that teach the fear of the Lord.  So how does it happen?  I have some thoughts regarding this.

 

In order to fear the Lord, one must find out as much as possible about Him.  To do that you need to open up only one book – the Bible.  The advantage of this book is that the professor is the One who wrote it by guiding men’s thoughts.  I enjoy reading fiction books by Clive Cussler.  He has written many books with the help of other writers.  The Bible is God’s Word to us given to men to write by the Holy Spirit.  When I read the book of Isaiah, the Holy Spirit would be the author we recognize and the man Isaiah would be the one helping with the writing.  When the Bible is read with more than a casual reading, it speaks to the one reading it to give a sense of who God is.  In my relationship to God, I want and need to know as much about Him as I can.  Everyday I am amazed at what I learn about Him. I have been reading and studying His Word since July, 1976; I am continually amazed at how new and fresh it is.  How can one not read it and be in awe of God?  How can one read it and not look forward to an eternity in His kingdom? 

 

I went to notes I had made long ago on this Psalm.  I think it was Warren Weirsbe I was using as the source for the notes.  Here is what I wrote.  “Those who fear the Lord need fear nothing else – this is the fear that drives out all fear.  To those who fear the Lord, He will provide all we need when we need it.”  In my notes I also have the following.  “David gathered the children to him to teach them the secret of real living.  To fear the Lord is to (1) Desire what is good (Verse 12), (2) speak what is true (verse 13), (3) desire what is right – abandon sin once and for all; work on it (verse 14) and Expect what is best.  Live by faith, trust the Lord to guide you, care for you, and to help you do the right thing (verses 15-16).

Fear God, not men.  Live for God’s approval, not the approval of men.  Open your Bible every day that your heart might may grow closer to our heavenly Father.  My heart’s desire for all who read this is you have a greater desire for Him, that your hunger and thirst for His kingdom and His righteousness is greater today than yesterday!

 

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