When I was a boy, we used to visit my cousins house in the summer. Across the road from their house was a farm with milking cows roaming a meadow. I don’t know why, but it seemed like a fun place to play. As we crawled over the fence, I remember hearing my cousin say, “Be careful where you step.” I didn’t fully understand what they meant when they said that, until a few moments later, I discovered that there were “cow minefields” everywhere!
Later as a teenager, two friends of mine and I went hiking here in mountains of Pennsylvania. As we neared the beginning of the trail, one of my friends warned me to keep my eyes opened, because this mountain was called “rattlesnake mountain.” I want to tell you that I went to sleep each night with very tired eyes. I had searched every rock before every one of my steps to be sure there were no rattlesnakes.
As a grandfather, I go down to a small creek that runs throughout property with the grandchildren. They love that little creek. Their mothers always give them the typical “mother speech,” in which they tell them not to get into the creek. Of course, the one thing they want to do is catch crayfish in the creek. They each eventually want to walk across the creek to get where the crayfish are hiding. As they step from stone to stone, I warn them to watch their step.
Today I read a great verse in Psalm 128. The psalmist wrote: “Blessed is every one that feareth the LORD; that walketh in his ways” (Psalm 128:1). From the time I was a boy, through my teenage years, into young adulthood, and now into the senior years, I have learned how important it is to follow this plan that God has placed before us. We all would do well to take this verse as the plan for our day today. Let’s all begin the day by fearing the Lord. This is a great day to respect, and honor the Lord far more than we respect and honor anyone or anything else.
Fear of the Lord is not something that we talk about much in our days. This phrase is all throughout the Scriptures. It carries the idea of a loving Heavenly Father Who is watching out for us, but who also sees everything we do, think, and say; as well as every attitude that motivates us to action. With this in mind, we ought to fear Him. We ought to watch our steps throughout the day, so that we can please Him. He is deserving of us being careful with our words, the places we go, and the things we will do. We might think we are not affecting anyone, but remember; God is watching!