On Day 14 we saw that Zechariah instructed Uzziah in the fear of the Lord. 2 Chronicles 26:5 “He (Uzziah) sought God during the days of Zechariah, who instructed him in the fear of God. As long as he sought the Lord, God gave him success.” So obviously if we fear God, we will be seeking him also. Our success from God totally depends on seeking him but most people are not seeking because there is no fear of God in the land. Psalm 36:1 “I have a message from God in my heart concerning the sinfulness of the wicked: There is no fear of God before their eyes. 2 In their own eyes they flatter themselves too much to detect or hate their sin. 3 The words of their mouths are wicked and deceitful; they fail to act wisely or do good. 4 Even on their beds they plot evil; they commit themselves to a sinful course and do not reject what is wrong.” Paul said Romans 3:10 “As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one; 11 there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. 12 All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.” 13 “Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.” “The poison of vipers is on their lips.” 14 “Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.” 15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood; 16 ruin and misery mark their ways, 17 and the way of peace they do not know.” 18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” Abraham said Genesis 20:11 “Abraham replied, “I said to myself, ‘There is surely no fear of God in this place.” Unfortunately we are talking about the church. This is what happens when there is no fear of God but it shouldn’t be said about the church.
We have a choice to fear God or not. Even in Egypt some chose to fear and others did not. Exodus 1:17 “The midwives, however, feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do; they let the boys live.” Exodus 9:30 “But I know that you and your officials still do not fear the Lord God.” In the church though we should all fear God but that is not happening. We were told clearly to fear Him. Deuteronomy 6:1 “These are the commands, decrees and laws the Lord your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, 2 so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the Lord your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life. 3 Hear, Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, promised you. 24 The Lord commanded us to obey all these decrees and to fear the Lord our God, so that we might always prosper and be kept alive, as is the case today.
This tells us that when we fear God, we walk in obedience to Him and serve the Lord with heart, soul and mind. We must learn this but this has not been taught as lately there has been too much buddy buddy and God as Santa so we can sit on his lap and ask for things. Malachi 1:14 “Cursed is the cheat who has an acceptable male in his flock and vows to give it, but then sacrifices a blemished animal to the Lord. For I am a great king,” says the Lord Almighty, “and my name is to be feared among the nations.” That is not the fear of God. So this is what we are to do. Deuteronomy 31:12 “Assemble the people—men, women and children, and the foreigners residing in your towns—so they can listen and learn to fear the Lord your God and follow carefully all the words of this law. 13 Their children, who do not know this law, must hear it and learn to fear the Lord your God as long as you live in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess.” You see when they took the land God said Joshua 4:24 “He did this so that all the peoples of the earth might know that the hand of the Lord is powerful and so that you might always fear the Lord your God.”
Samuel makes it clear what we are facing today. He said 1 Samuel 12:14 “If you fear the Lord and serve and obey him and do not rebel against his commands, and if both you and the king who reigns over you follow the Lord your God—good! 15 But if you do not obey the Lord, and if you rebel against his commands, his hand will be against you, as it was against your ancestors.” Sadly the church today is the second part. Ecclesiastes 8:13 “Yet because the wicked do not fear God, it will not go well with them, and their days will not lengthen like a shadow.” Jeremiah 5:23 “But these people have stubborn and rebellious hearts; they have turned aside and gone away. 24 They do not say to themselves, ‘Let us fear the Lord our God, who gives autumn and spring rains in season, who assures us of the regular weeks of harvest.” That is pretty clear! Why? Because 1 Chronicles 16:25 “great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; he is to be feared above all gods.”
This description of Job sums up who we should be. Job 1:1 “In the land of Uz there lived a man “whose name was Job. This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil.” Isaiah 50:10 “Who among you fears the Lord and obeys the word of his servant? Let the one who walks in the dark, who has no light, trust in the name of the Lord and rely on their God.” Acts 10:22 “The men replied, “We have come from Cornelius the centurion. He is a righteous and God-fearing man, who is respected by all the Jewish people. A holy angel told him to ask you to come to his house so that he could hear what you have to say.” 23 Then Peter invited the men into the house to be his guests.”
2 Corinthians 5:11 “Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade others. What we are is plain to God, and I hope it is also plain to your conscience.” They did what God commanded them to do no matter what. Revelation 14:7 “He said in a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water.” Revelation 19:5 “Then a voice came from the throne, saying: “Praise our God, all you his servants, you who fear him, both great and small!” Joshua 24:14 “Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord.”
So as you can see fearing God means you will obey and serve Him with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. If you do not fear Him, you won’t obey and you will go your own way. Today there is no fear of God in the church and most go their own way, yet they say they worship Him. You cannot worship Him if you do not fear and obey God. We must fear Him and Matthew 10:28 “be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” When we read about Ananias and Sapphira we this fear of which we need again. Acts 5:9 “Peter said to her, “How could you conspire to test the Spirit of the Lord? Listen! The feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out also. 10 At that moment she fell down at his feet and died. Then the young men came in and, finding her dead, carried her out and buried her beside her husband. 11 Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events.” Acts 19:15 “One day the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know about, but who are you?” 16 Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding. 17 When this became known to the Jews and Greeks living in Ephesus, they were all seized with fear, and the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honor. 18 Many of those who believed now came and openly confessed what they had done. 19 A number who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly. When they calculated the value of the scrolls, the total came to fifty thousand drachmas. 20 In this way the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power.”
We need to fear God once again and obey His word. If we are going to be successful, we must learn to fear God again and obey His commands. Deuteronomy 6 said, “so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the Lord your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life.” Deuteronomy 10:12 “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, 13 and to observe the Lord’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good?”
