I don’t normally do two posts in one day, but I was reading an older (okay 2 days old) post by Skip Moen and I came across this explanation of what it means to fear God:

God invites me to walk hand-in-hand, but when I feel the grasp of His fingers, I am aware that He is touching me ever so lightly lest I be crushed.  I am the butterfly in His palm.  I depend entirely on His grace. [1]

I’ve never really understood what fearing God meant; Is it being afraid of Him?  That doesn’t make sense if I’m to love Him and if He loves me.  But this image totally explains how I can love God and He can love me, but how I can also fear Him.  Ah, now I understand why it is the beginning of wisdom.

Thanks Skip for such a beautiful image!

[1] Moen, Skip. “Justice as Antidote.” Hebrew Word Study | Skip Moen. At God’s Table, 28 Jan. 2011. Web. 29 Jan. 2011. <http://skipmoen.com/2011/01/28/justice-as-antidote/>.

Yet He is Holy.

Through all of that, He’s still in control.  It seems to me that He’s still teaching me to walk in faith (as opposed to just “knowing” the right things).

Ecclesiastes 12:12

The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person.

The word fear always makes me think of a tiny, skeletal man, cowering before a vengeful and furious (usually on fire) being.  I don’t think that’s quite the image the author had in mind.  Fearing God is one of those things that’s kind of “christian-ese,” like grace or faith.  It gets used a lot, but not that many people really understand it.   Strong’s definitions for this word include awe, reverence, honor, respect, and astonishment.  That’s much broader than the terror and trembling I usually think of.

It seems that often in the Christian world today, we tend to emphasize God’s love and downplay the more God-like qualities (like judgment and anger).  While this might be good in the sense that it helps people to have a relationship with Him, it’s not good because God is called Almighty for a reason.  He isn’t a giant teddy-bear or a wish-granting leprechaun.  There’s a huge lack of respect for God today because we’ve read things into (and out of) the Bible.  Part of it is the Hellenized culture, but part of it is that we’ve tried to make God “user friendly.”  And while that’s all well and good, we’ve lost the awe and astonishment that precede reverence and respect.

If, after searching the world and trying everything known and available to mankind, Solomon concludes that only two things matter and one of these is to fear (be in awe, astonishment, reverence, and respect) God, that makes it pretty significant!  For me, that might mean being more aware of the complexity of the world He created, or it might mean really studying and discovering the qualities that God applies to Himself so I can know who He is.  It might be treating Him less like a cosmic Santa Clause and more like an Almighty, awesome, incredible, overwhelming Maker-of-all-things in whom all things hold together (literally) and without whom all life would cease to exist.

If you want to be amazed, read this forward I received from a friend the other day.  It’s pretty cool!

I often think of God as a loving, Abba Father, whose lap I can snuggle into and be safe and warm. And this is true of Him. But He is also Almight God, Judge of humanity. He does love me, but He is just. He created the Universe, telling the oceans where they have to stop, the sun where and how hot to shine, and the earth exactly how it must orbit to sustain life. It’s His hand that knows every detail and whose hand everything must pass through to affect our life.

It’s so easy to forget to have respect for God, thinking only of the warmer side of His love. It’s very easy, and convenient for us, to forget that He is so incredibly powerful and holds each minute of our life in His hand. We are so fragile compared to Him. How easily He could break us if He chose to. How greatly He loves us – enough to bless and enough to punish. Love and Trembling. Both are aspects of our relationship with God. Love to remind us that we are valued and bought at a tremendous price; and trembling to remind us that God is just and that He asks for obedience and faith.

• Our church is doing a “God Is” sermon series this summer and Pastor Ed, our children’s minister, did a great sermon on the 4th of July about how God is Freedom. One of his points was that “Christ grants us Freedom from our present situations.” This made me think about my current situations and it brought home the point that I need to surrender this present situation to Christ. I need to stop struggling and trying to find a way out. I need to find the grace and peace that Christ gives in this situation. It’s like snuggling up with a cozy blanket. Stop squirming, snuggle in, find peace where I am, and trust that God has it under control and will work out the details in His time and way.
• I was listening to Moody Radio yesterday and the lady was talking about a lesson her daughter had taught her because she had been taught Biblical truths as a child. As a parent it’s really easy to imagine horrible things happening to your child and worrying about them all the time. But worry isn’t trust. This woman’s daughter reminded her that God has numbered her days and that nothing can happen to her that isn’t part of God’s plan or that hasn’t gone through the filter of His hand. I like that. There are times when I find the enemy of our souls pushing me towards that place of worry and imagination and this helps me to stop, trust God, and remember that He loves my little ones much more than I ever could and nothing will happen to them that He hasn’t allowed. That’s a comfort!
• On a podcast from Northpointe Church in Atlanta, Andy Stanley said that “Direction determines Destination.” Often we think that the choices we make only affect the situation we are currently in. For example, I want to marry a Godly guy who treats me well, so I’ll go out with any guy who asks me. Choices aren’t a one time thing. Choices are paths and the paths we choose have destination that are pre-determined. If you choose to date anyone who asks you out, you’ll probably end up with a guy who doesn’t meet those standards you once held dear. The things that catch our attention, catch our eyes, and turn our head. Like in driving, if you turn your head you’re likely to turn your car. So, it’s important to watch the things that we give attention to and the choices we make. Otherwise we’ll end up on path we didn’t want going in a direction we didn’t intend towards a destination we had no intention of going toward. Like he said, no matter how much you intend and plan on a trip to Florida, if you take I-75 North, you’ll never get there!

So, there are a few things I’ve learned, that have stuck with me the last few days. Hope they stick with you, too.

The context of these two verses is that the Israelites were still grumbling about Aaron’s family being the ones chosen to be priests.  It seems that this was like being royalty and the people were jealous (hence Korah’s rebellion).  God finally said, enough is enough.  Put all the staffs, one from the leader of each tribe with his name inscribed on it, in front of me and I will show you.  Well, sure enough, Aaron’s staff not only budded, it blossomed and produced almonds!  That’s pretty conclusive proof of God’s will.

In my life, I yearn for affirmation, especially in areas like singing/worshiping and teaching/curriculum.  I’ve struggled with this for years.  And, often, God gives me affirmation from people, just not always from whom I want it.  I greatly desire to see myself the way God sees me because I know He affirms me and has given me the gifts I have.  I think it’s a lot like a woman’s desire to know she is beautiful.  Every woman (I think) has a desire to know she is beautiful and wanted.  We express it different ways, but it’s there.  For me, I expressed it in modeling (when I was in college). 

But, now I have the love of an incredible God who has given me the love of an incredible man.  I know I am beautiful in their eyes and that is enough… but I still want to know I do well in these other areas, that what I do matters.  I seek the acknowledgement of this from people around me and in authority over me.  Why is it not enough to know that God gave me gifts and therefore they are good?  I don’t know.

There is a song called “Royalty” by Alberto and Kimberly Rivera that basically expresses how God sees me and it’s an amazing song.  The first time I heard it, I cried.  I will try and post the lyrics one of these days soon, but I don’t have time today.  It speaks to the longing in my heart to know I am important and good and lovely and valuable.  Affirmation from God.  And I still pray to see myself through God’s eyes, instead of seeking to find myself in the eyes of others.

The chapter goes on to say that God allowed them to do all the depraved things they wanted, but here would be consequences. Sound familiar? It’s eerily like what is going on in America today. We know there’s a God but many of us choose to ignore Him and to pretend like He doesn’t exist. So we run off and do our own thing. After watching the news lately, this hits home more and more often as our government allows more and more things that go against God’s Word. Kind of scary. But, as always, God is in control so all I can do it trust that He’s got it in His hand.

Wow! Three things I see here:
First, let me say that I have no idea what translation this is (my Bible says New Living Translation, but it’s different from what BibleGateway.com says in its New Living Translation, so… ????).

1. I shouldn’t be thinking like everyone else does. I should be thinking like Jesus, on the things He says to think about. It’s easy to think like the world – get stuff, look good, it’s all about me….Be afraid, very afraid… (Which brings me to my second point.)

2. Don’t fear all these plans made behind closed doors. (Like those being made by our government? Or my boss?) I get really frustrated because I feel so helpless and unable to voice my opinion about the insanity (my opinion) of the things that our government is doing. I’m not sure I’m afraid of them, except that they’ll start the apocalypse or something like that. But I know people who are afraid – stockpiling food, buying guns, etc. Here is says that this will not be the end of me. Well, theoretically it could be my end, but it’s saying that they don’t have the power to end everything.

3. Fear God alone. Don’t be afraid of other things. This one struck home because I fear a lot for my children – what if our car drives off a bridge into water or if there’s a car fire and I can’t get them out (hmmm… lot’s of fear with cars… what does that mean? Giant man-eating fish, no… Cars, yes). But I’m not supposed to be afraid of things like that because ultimately God is in control. He is Holy and all-powerful. So, I fear Him which leads to trust and increasing faith. I put my children and their wellfare in His hands, thanking Him for each moment I have with them. He says that He will keep me safe (and them) – and really, isn’t he the only who can keep us safe anyway? We can do what we want to try and prevent things, but we don’t really have a whole lot of control over things. God is God and He’s bigger than all the things I fear (including giant roaches that leap out of drawer at me – yuckyuckyuckyuckyuck!!!!!).