{"id":26817,"date":"2015-07-22T00:20:22","date_gmt":"2015-07-22T04:20:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/?p=26817"},"modified":"2015-07-21T17:05:11","modified_gmt":"2015-07-21T21:05:11","slug":"26817","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/2015\/07\/22\/26817\/","title":{"rendered":"Fear of the Lord"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"SeekingHimLogo\"<\/a><\/p>\n

How great is Your goodness, <\/span>
\nwhich You have stored up for those who fear You, <\/span>
\nwhich You have wrought for those <\/span>
\nwho take refuge in You…<\/span>
\nPsalm 31:19<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0*\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0~\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u2665 \u00a0 ~\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u271e\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0~ \u00a0\u2665 \u00a0\u00a0~ \u00a0 *<\/span><\/p>\n

What is<\/strong>\u00a0it to ‘fear the Lord’? \u00a0Fear normally has a negative connotation to it. \u00a0We\u00a0think of someone who may be ‘paralyzed with fear’. \u00a0But this is not what the psalmist is speaking of here.<\/p>\n

God gave His people rules and laws\u00a0when they came out of Egypt. \u00a0Why? \u00a0Because for over 400 years they were not able to think for themselves.\u00a0\u00a0They had lived and functioned in a pagan land filled with idols and artificial gods. \u00a0Those who did remember God’s promises had to really protect themselves from the influence of the pagan culture.<\/p>\n

When we study the Old Testament teachings about the Hebrew people, we often think, “Why were they so stubborn?” \u00a0Couldn’t they see what they are doing by not obeying Moses and Aaron? Why did Aaron build the golden calf when he knew Moses was on the mountain with God? \u00a0The reason?—they were human and did not have the same type of relationship with God as Moses had. \u00a0As they continued to walk with Moses they did learn more of God’s character, but still chose not to trust Him. We, today, still have similar choices to make.<\/p>\n

As we walk with God and\u00a0study His Word, we are inviting wisdom and knowledge to come in. \u00a0We are saying that we want more than just a casual relationship with God. \u00a0We want to become invested in His Will for our lives. \u00a0It’s like with your friends—you talk to them and get to know who they are and what their likes and dislikes are. \u00a0So when we chose to not to make time for God, we are saying He is not important.<\/p>\n

We must strive to cultivate an attitude of respect. Proverbs 1:7 says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.” \u00a0<\/span>The first-century church (shown to us in the Book of Acts) practiced the fear of the Lord. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So\u00a0the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria
\nhad peace and was being built up.
\nAnd walking in the fear of the Lord
\nand in the comfort of the\u00a0Holy Spirit, it multiplied.
\n<\/span>Acts 9:31<\/p>\n

The early Church chose to focus on what was good in their lives and keep up their community by seeking daily to bless others and be God’s best.<\/p>\n

We can walk in this way as well. \u00a0When we\u00a0are coming into a state of turmoil, we can choose to walk in God’s goodness by following His Will in our lives.<\/p>\n

\u00a0*\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0~\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u2665 \u00a0 ~\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u271e\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0~ \u00a0\u2665 \u00a0\u00a0~ \u00a0 *<\/span><\/p>\n

Let’s pray<\/span><\/em>: \u00a0Father,\u00a0I come humbly before You, thanking You for Your goodness. \u00a0Give\u00a0me a heart to seek after You and Your Word and be a light to others. \u00a0Help me not to become distracted and to remain focused on You. \u00a0In Jesus’ name, amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How great is Your goodness, which You have stored up for those who fear You, which You have wrought for those who take refuge in You… Psalm 31:19 \u00a0*\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0~\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u2665 \u00a0 ~\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u271e\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0~ \u00a0\u2665 \u00a0\u00a0~ \u00a0 * What is\u00a0it to ‘fear the Lord’? \u00a0Fear normally has a negative connotation to it. \u00a0We\u00a0think of someone who may be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":13840,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3020],"tags":[9184,3367,3532,1287,425,3737,818,9172,3174,1071],"class_list":["post-26817","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-devotions","tag-acts-931","tag-daily-devotions-2","tag-fear-of-the-lord","tag-gch","tag-girlfriends-coffee-hour","tag-gods-goodness","tag-proverbs-17","tag-psalm-3119","tag-seeking-him-devotional","tag-tina-marin","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/SeekingHimLogo.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s39pHp-26817","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26817","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26817"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26817\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26861,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26817\/revisions\/26861"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}