The Fear of the Lord

There have been many times as a single mom of three teenage daughters that I have felt overwhelmed by the circumstances of life. Loneliness is a constant when you are trying to provide for your family, make all the decisions and feel there is no one to turn to who can help or understand. I do go to God, because I know He is powerful and I want to live under the fear of the Lord; but there have been many times where I have wondered if He really heard me or if He really knew how I was feeling. When the car breaks down, the child support doesn’t get deposited causing checks to bounce, one of the kids comes home with a zero because she did not turn in her homework, there is no food in the pantry, and the toilet overflows all in one week, it is easy to feel overwhelmed and wonder if I can take one more thing.

I remember a particularly hard time when I was working part time at Kohl’s making $7 an hour. I had started school in order to get a degree where I could get a better job and was taking a full load of classes. For reasons beyond my control the child support I had been receiving was cut about $300 and I was trying to raise three children and having trouble making ends meet. The children had been provided with TennCare and so family and friends were encouraging me to file for food stamps also. This was hard for me because I was always taught that we should allow God to take care of us and that it was not the role of government to meet our needs. I felt if I went to the government for help I was not allowing God to take care of me. I felt I would not be living under the fear of the Lord. However, I got so desperate I went ahead and applied for the food stamps all the while wondering if God knew how desperate we really were. God seem to be ignoring my circumstance and it felt as if He really did not know what I was going through.

Do you ever feel that way? Are there times when there is not enough money to go around. Is peace something you use to have with your spouse? Does it seem the kids are always sick or coming down with something? Do you ever look to the ceiling and say, “Are you there? Do you know that I can’t pay my mortgage this month? Do you hear me?” Is the future a scary place for you to think about? Do you have trouble recognizing or feeling God’s presence in your life?

I’m reminded of the movie the Pursuit of Happiness that starred Will Smith. The movie was based on a true story, if anybody ever felt overwhelmed at the circumstances of their life this man must have. I want you to take a look at this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z95wF2Cdye4&feature=PlayList&p=2AFA59EA4F67E6F6&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=35

Maybe your circumstances are not as overwhelming as his, or occurring to the same degree, but we all have those times when we do have to deal with life and all it brings and the questions bombard our minds as to whether God really cares.

What would you give to know there is a solution to your problems? To know that you don’t have to worry about the future or even five minutes down the road or to be able to help others find solutions and not worry about tomorrow. Would that make your life easier and happier? What if I told you I found the secret to living life in peace without worry or stress, would you like to know what it is?

If I could sum up Psalm 34 into one sentence it would be, the fear of the Lord creates hope. Hope is the very thing we need when we are feeling overwhelmed. Did you see the promises found in this chapter? God promises that He is always there for us, He knows what is going on with us, and He helps us when we are in trouble. Yea, you say those are good promises, but how can I really know He will do that for me, especially when I don’t see it happening or feel Him near me.

I think we can look at Psalm 34 as a type of recipe for us to follow to help us understand and benefit from the statement “the fear of the Lord creates hope”. This recipe gives us clear and concise instructions to follow and promises good results all along the way. It is one of those portions of Scripture that clearly says if we do this then God will do that. The focus of Psalm 34 seems to be the fear of the Lord.

So what is the fear of the Lord? For some the fear of the Lord can sound a little scary, giving the impression that God wants them to be afraid of Him; but that is not what it is at all. It actually has nothing to do with being afraid. Yes, it is a place of awe, reverence, and understanding that He is greater than us, but it is so much more than that. It is a place of intimacy and relationship with God. He wants to be near us, to be in close relationship with us.

With a closer look at the chapter we can see the first few verses are all about worshiping and praising God. David was a man after God’s own heart, he knew how to praise God and he did it with all his might. So for David to begin a Psalm that focuses on the fear of the Lord with worship tells me that praise is a large part of the fear of the Lord. As we go on down through this chapter we will see it is more about relationship and obedience than fear.

In verse 4, the amplified version states that David sought and required of the Lord, “out of necessity and on the authority of His Word.” David would not have been able to understand his place with God as a son and feel confident in approaching the Throne of God for his needs unless he had a close relationship with Him. David started this chapter with worship because it is out of worship and praises that relationship and obedience can grow. In Psalm 73:25, Asaph also talks about this relationship with God, when he says, “Whom have I in heaven but You? And I have no delight or desire on earth besides you.” I believe Asaph was saying nothing makes him happy and can satisfy him here on earth like God, he had nothing else. Also in Matthew 7:7 it shows us how we as God’s children should approach His throne with our needs. “Keep on asking and it will be given you; keep on seeking and you will find; keep on knocking and the door will be opened to you.” When you continue to ask of Him, seek Him, and knock on His door, which I equate to reminding Him of His promises, it builds relationship with Him. That is what He wants, because it is out of relationship that we come to know who He really is and want to obey Him, and it is out of obedience that we truly step into who we were created to be in the first place, imitators of Christ.

Starting in verse 11 and going through verse 22 of Psalm 34, David, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, teaches us what it means to live by the statement “the fear of the Lord creates hope”. Within these verses I found 10 different ingredients for our recipe that will help us produce hope in the midst of our circumstances. By applying these 10 things to our lives we can know hope and find ourselves living under the fear of the Lord. So let’s take a look at the 10 things I found.

1. In verse 13, we see our first ingredient. David instructs us not to speak evil and deceitful things. This is very self explanatory but did you know that it also includes not speaking evil about yourself? When we say things like I will never be good enough to do that, or I always fail, we are speaking evil of ourselves. Proverbs 18:21 says “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and they who indulge in it shall eat the fruit of it (for death or life).” Also Deut. 30:19 says “I call heaven and earth to witness this day against you that I have set before you life and death, the blessings and the curses; therefore choose life that you and your descendants may live.” God gives us the choice to live or die, to have blessings or cursings invade our lives, and to impact the future lives of our descendants with the same. It is up to us to choose and the principalities of heaven both angelic and demonic are waiting for our choice. In the first part of Deut, it says “I call heaven and earth to witness this day against you”, it is your choice; do you want blessings or cursings? What will you choose?

2. The next ingredient is found in verse 14, as David says stay away from evil and do good. Another self explanatory passage. We all know the difference between good and evil and how to live morally within our community; but I think again this also has to do with ourselves. There are things we allow to creep into our lives and call good that in reality are evil. We have to be very vigilant in seeking God’s idea of good and rejecting everything else.

3. Verse 14, gives us another ingredient for our recipe. David says to pursue peace. This means to crave it, go after it! I like the way the amplified version spells it out in I Peter 3:11b – “…. Let him search for peace (harmony; undisturbedness from fears, agitating passions, and moral conflicts) and seek it eagerly. [Do not merely desire peaceful relations with God, with your fellowmen, and with yourself, but pursue, go after them!]”

4. In verse 15, we see David telling us not to compromise in doing right and what we believe is right. The amplified version states, “The eyes of the Lord are toward the (uncompromisingly) righteous.” When I think of the eyes of the Lord looking at me, I think of intimacy, you know like when a man and woman who love each other look into each other’s eyes and seem to be oblivious to everything else going on around them. I want Jesus to look at me that way, so that leads me to want to never compromise what I know to be right.

5. Also in verse 15, David says for us to “cry out to the Lord believing He will hear us”. Although this part of the verse also implies not compromising so that the Lord will hear us; I also believe an important underlying aspect is knowing, believing, and trusting that when we cry out to Him, He will hear us. Because He says He will hear, we can know He will hear. Sometimes just knowing He is there and hears my cry is all I need. I don’t always have to have an answer; there are times when just knowing someone is hearing me is enough.

6. The sixth ingredient is found in verse 17. David tells us to cry out to the Lord, but this time we cry to Him knowing He will deliver us. This is another place of trusting that no matter what our circumstances look like He is delivering us from ALL our troubles and distresses. Verse 12 of Psalm 34 gives the indication that living a long and good life comes from living under the fear of the Lord. In I Peter 3:10, this verse is repeated. In the amplified version the first part of the verse says, “him who wants to enjoy life and see good days (good – whether apparent or not).” This statement is very important in that Peter is saying we may not always see things as being good for us, but God knows they really are. We want to enjoy life and see good days, but sometimes our perception of what good is can be very different than God’s perception of good. This is where trusting Him to deliver us becomes the issue.

7. The next ingredient is found in verse 18. This scripture has a lot to say but I think the main point that David is trying to make is we need to be repentant over our sin. When we humbly recognize our sin and confess it, the Lord draws close to us. If you want to know the presence of the Lord in your life, you must be willing to come into agreement with God about the sin in your life and confess it. The closeness of His presence is an amazing thing to experience after doing some internal house cleaning.

8. Verse 19 tells us that if we are consistently doing what is right without wavering (amplified version) that any evil that comes against us the Lord will deliver us from them all. So the ingredient we can use from this verse is to be consistent in our walk.

9. The ninth ingredient comes out of verse 22, when David tells us to take refuge in the Lord. Verse 8 goes right along with this and the amplified version says “Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) is the man who trusts and takes refuge in Him.” I think it is interesting that the amplified expounds on the word blessed using the term envied because as we can also see in Romans 11:11, Israel will come to God because they will be jealous of what we have. This is what it says, “So I ask, Have they stumbled so as to fall? By no means! But through their false step and transgression salvation [has come] to the Gentiles, so as to arouse Israel [to see and feel what they forfeited] and so to make them jealous.” So taking refuge in the Lord not only blesses our lives but can influence the lives of God’s chosen people as well. So there are purposes beyond just our life for our obedience and relationship with God.

10. The last ingredient that I found for our recipe is also in verse 22. David tells us to trust in the Lord. He says that if we trust, the Lord will redeem our lives and we will not be condemned or held guilty. When I think of redemption here, I feel it is talking about all the times we have messed up and walked away from our destiny. David is saying no matter how far away we find ourselves God won’t condemn us or cause us to feel guilty. As we trust in Him he will continue to redeem all those places and bring us back on track to what we were created for.

As we have seen, it is as if these verses provide for us an umbrella of protection from the evil in the world. Living under the fear of the Lord, and living in relationship and obedience to Him releases all the promises in His Word over our lives and brings us life. This is a simple yet profound chapter in that it specifically states for us how living under the fear of the Lord provides for every one of our needs, problems, or worries to be met within the promises of God. If we follow the recipe He has laid out for us we can be sure of the manifestation of His promises and a decrease in needs, problems, or worries we will face in life. Our recipe is laid out and we have all the ingredients we need. The next step will be to put all the ingredients together, and live our lives based on the belief that the fear of the Lord creates hope.

So, what does this mean for our daily life as we face fears, disappointment, sorrow, or frustration? Remember how I told you that I got so desperate that I applied for food stamps. Well let me tell you the rest of the story. I did not get the food stamps, but out of the blue the case worker ask me if I had any doctor bills that I had not told her about, because if I did I might qualify for TennCare for myself. I did not have insurance and really did not think I needed it, but I figured it was worth a try. So I told her I had an orthodontist bill for one of my children. When she figured it in, I was $5 over the amount needed to be able to receive TennCare. So, although I did not get food stamps that day I left with medical insurance coverage for myself for a year. The best part about that is within that year I had to be taken to the emergency room several times with pain in my stomach and eventually had to have my gallbladder taken out, all of which was paid for 100% by the insurance. I like to say it was paid for by God not the government because He knew it was coming and took care of it even before I knew I needed it. God also provided for my daughter and I to go to Africa later that year for which I needed insurance and it was again already available and covered before I ever knew I would need it. I think God is just waiting for us to cooperate with Him so He can bless us and so we won’t have to worry or be anxious over circumstances. So how are you going to cooperate with God?

If you look back at the 10 ingredients in our recipe there is always a promise that goes along with each ingredient that seems to take care of any problem we might have. Let’s look at a few of them. Verse 15 and 17 says when you cry to him His eyes see you, His ears hear you, and He will deliver you from all your distresses and troubles. Verse 18 speaks of His salvation when you are crushed down from sin and the circumstances of life. Again in verse 19 He delivers you from every place the enemy would try to come against you. Also, if you look at some of the other verses within the chapter you see His deliverance from all fear in verse 4; His protection for you in verse 7; and His provision for you in verses 9 and 10. So, by following these simple ingredients you can form your life based on the belief that “the fear of the Lord creates hope.”

Through worship, prayer, faith, relationship and obedience you can know the fear of the Lord and His provision, protection, and peace that come with it. The fear of the Lord is not just words that are vague and hard to understand. The fear of the Lord is practical, tangible love acted out between God and you. Are you ready to apply the recipe of God’s Word of your life? I challenge you to take these ingredients and put them to the test, and experience the peace that living by the belief that “the fear of the Lord creates hope” can bring.

If we were to live our lives based on the belief that “the fear of the Lord creates hope”, what would our lives look like? I Peter 3:11b tells us that it looks like peace which is harmony; undisturbedness from fears, agitating passions, and moral conflicts. What does peace look like to you? Is that something you would want for your life? What about for your city, region, or nation?

Can you imagine a world where every Christian lived with that kind of peace, fully trusting in the faithfulness of God and His promises, reverently and worshipfully fearing the Lord; living out their lives based on the belief that “the fear of the Lord creates hope?” It is hard to imagine what that would look like, but I think this next video gives us some idea. By the way the events in this video are actually taking place in the world right now. Take a look at this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbddQNQ91SA

What you do within your own life today can have a lasting impact on the world in the future. It starts with you today, will you pick up the recipe of His Word and apply these ingredients to your life and experience the same change in your life that the world is experiencing today? It is your choice, will you live your life from the belief that “the fear of the Lord creates hope?”