My Bible reading for the day took me down a path that I did not expect, but that I need to be reminded of daily. I began reading about God allowing Israel to cross over the Red Sea on dry ground. After they all had arrived safely on the other side, God wiped out the pursuing Egyptians and their chariots, proving His protective hand on Israel. I read, “And Israel saw that great work which the LORD did upon the Egyptians: and the people feared the LORD, and believed the LORD, and His servant Moses” (Exodus 14:31).
I then read the story of Job and the suffering that he endured. I one of his rebuttals to his “friends,” Job wrote “For destruction from God was a terror to me, and by reason of His highness I could not endure” (Job 31:23). When I read this, it caused me to pause and consider the awesome holiness of God. Today we love to talk about grace and mercy, but God’s holiness is just as real! Job understood that, and when he compared his own righteousness to the righteousness of God it brought terror to his heart. It really hit me about how often I flirt with sin in my life, not considering what that does to the heart of my holy and righteous Heavenly Father.
I then moved on to read “For they that hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD: They would none of My counsel: they despised all My reproof. Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices” (Proverbs 1:29-31). There is a theme that runs throughout the Bible of the importance of a healthy fear of the Lord!
I look around our world today and see people that think if they say there is no God loud enough, that it will somehow become a truth! They could not be further from the truth! What is it that makes us think we can shake our fist in the face of God and not reap the consequences of that rebellious attitude? What is it in the heart of man that makes him want to challenge the idea that there is a God is Heaven? I can tell you clearly, it is the influence of the Devil himself! He wants our world to believe evolution rather than the Bible truth of a six-day creation. He wants us to believe that everyone is going to Heaven if they just try to be good.
It grieves my soul that this flippant attitude about the holiness of God has filtered down into our local churches as well. Believers are guilty of living a haphazard Christian life as much as the world today. I am guilty myself, and it saddens me! I want to live with a healthy fear of my Lord today so that I will walk in paths that please Him, and not in my own understanding.