{"id":179,"date":"2017-07-20T21:59:48","date_gmt":"2017-07-20T21:59:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kardian.org\/wordpress\/?p=179"},"modified":"2023-05-19T23:28:11","modified_gmt":"2023-05-19T23:28:11","slug":"fear-the-lord","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kardian.org\/wordpress\/2017\/07\/20\/fear-the-lord\/","title":{"rendered":"Fear the Lord"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/kardian.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/fear-of-the-lord.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" src=\"http:\/\/kardian.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/fear-of-the-lord-300x169.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-185\" srcset=\"https:\/\/kardian.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/fear-of-the-lord-300x169.png 300w, https:\/\/kardian.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/fear-of-the-lord-768x432.png 768w, https:\/\/kardian.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/fear-of-the-lord.png 1000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right\">&nbsp;<strong>\u201c..the fear of the Lord is Zion\u2019s treasure.\u201d<\/strong> Isaiah 33:6<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>What does it mean to &#8220;fear God&#8221;?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To \u201cfear the Lord\u201d means <strong>to take God seriously<\/strong>!&nbsp; He is the all-powerful supreme ruler of the universe, he means what he says and he says what he means and nothing can stay his hand.&nbsp; His pleasure is my reward; his displeasure is my demise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>Emphasized in Scripture<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the ESV &nbsp;\u201c<em>fear God<\/em>\u201d, \u201c<em>fear the Lord<\/em>\u201d, etc. occur 94 times.&nbsp; By comparison \u201c<em>love God<\/em>\u201d, \u201c<em>love the Lord<\/em>\u201d, etc. occur 19 times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>Are Christians to &#8220;fear the Lord&#8221;?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The early church grew by living in the \u201cfear of the Lord\u201d (Acts 9:31).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Paul\u2019s evangelistic zeal was propelled by his \u201cfear of the Lord\u201d (2 Cor. 5:11).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Peter urge the members of the early church to \u201cfear God\u201d (1 Pet. 2:17).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>Foundation of true wisdom<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Professors, politicians, judges, etc. may be very intelligent and well-educated but without the \u201cfear of the Lord\u201d they will lack wisdom by biblical standards!&nbsp; (Job 28:28; Psa. 111:10; Prov.1:7; 9:10; 15:33)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>Key to hating Evil<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When we \u201cfear God\u201d we will hate evil and avoid its practice.&nbsp; (Prov. 8:13; 16:6)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>The importance of consistency<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When we truly \u201cfear God\u201d we will continue to take him seriously even when things are going well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Exodus 9:13-35 &#8211; notice Pharaoh\u2019s behavior when faced with the devastating hail plague.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Also notice what enabled some of his servants to protect their slaves and livestock (Exodus 9:20).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>The foundation of civilized behavior<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to Scripture an appropriate \u201cfear of God\u201d is the source and foundation of civilized behavior. \u00a0When citizens do not &#8220;fear God&#8221; more and more power must be given to civil law enforcement and individual freedom is inevitably diminished.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>When <strong>strangers<\/strong> &#8220;fear God&#8221; you can trust them to not harm you. &nbsp;(Gen. 20:11)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>When <strong>men<\/strong> &#8220;fear God&#8221; they can make trustworthy leaders and judges (Jethro to Moses Ex. 18:21; 2 Chr. 19:5-7).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>When <strong>leaders<\/strong> &#8220;fear God&#8221; they will not abuse or take advantage of those they lead (Nehemiah Neh. 5:15).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>When <strong>kings<\/strong> &#8220;fear God&#8221; their reign will bring prosperity to the nation (King Uzziah 2 Chr. 26:5).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>When <strong>fathers<\/strong> &#8220;fear God&#8221; it benefits their children (Abraham Gen. 22:12).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>The importance of Scripture<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We learn to \u201cfear the Lord\u201d (to take him seriously) by absorbing the teaching of Scripture; it exposes us to the consequences of God\u2019s pleasure and displeasure in the lives of people and nations in the past; it reveals to us how to live pleasing to God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>This is true for <strong>kings<\/strong> (Deut. 17:19-20).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>This is true for <strong>adults<\/strong> (Deut. 31:12).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>This is true for <strong>children<\/strong> (Deut. 31:13).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>How do we benefit?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The \u201cfear of God\u201d, which produces a life of submissive obedience, is a key to living \u201cthe good life\u201d in this fallen world.\u00a0 (Deut. 6:24; Psa. 34:9; 115:13; Prov. 10:27; 14:26-27; 22:4).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>Negative Consequences?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What are some negative consequences when people do not \u201cfear the Lord\u201d?\u00a0 (2 Kings 17:25, 27-28)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>God humbles those who do not take him seriously (Psa. 55:19).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>God threatens to \u201ctear apart\u201d those who forget him (Psa. 50:22).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>God lets people self-destruct who do not &#8220;fear him&#8221; (Prov. 1:29-32).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What does it mean to &#8220;fear God&#8221;? To \u201cfear the Lord\u201d means to take God seriously!&nbsp; He is the all-powerful supreme ruler of the universe, he means what he says and he says what he means and nothing can stay &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/kardian.org\/wordpress\/2017\/07\/20\/fear-the-lord\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-179","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kardian.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kardian.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kardian.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kardian.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kardian.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=179"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/kardian.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":226,"href":"https:\/\/kardian.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179\/revisions\/226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kardian.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kardian.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kardian.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}