Psalm 34:11
11 Come [yalak], ye children [ben], hearken [shama`] unto me:
I will teach [lamad] you the fear [yir'ah] of the LORD [Yahovah]. KJV-Interlinear
11
Come, O children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD. ESV
Fear of the Lord, is a
phrase that can easily be quoted, but unfortunately too many have no clue as to
what it really means. And those who
think they know, really do not.
Children addresses
everyone who needs to listen and learn.
Which means everyone, including you.
Adults presumably have
been listening and have learned spiritual information.
But then child and adult
in the spiritual sense, have nothing to do with ones age. A sixty year old can be just as much a child
spiritually, as a ten year old.
Spiritual age has everything
to do with spiritual knowledge and understanding. And that does not come automatically, but by
means of a daily study, from instruction, while in fellowship, of the word of God.
Fear, ‘yirah,’ certainly
means to be afraid, but not in the sense of fear as in some monster movie. Fear means respect, genuine respect, and not
just lip service or a courtesy glance.
It means reverence, being in awe, obedience to the object of ones
respect.
Wives are commanded to
respect their husbands. We are all told to respect God. But more than that, we are told to obey all
of Gods mandates, and not give casual merely notice of them.
Life begins when you were
born. The very first thing you should understand
is that you are extremely lucky that you were actually born into life, in the
first place. Without life, there would
be no eternity, no wonderful things of life, no opportunity for phenomenal happiness
forever.
Sure there are bad things
in life, but those are all easily overcome and all present an opportunity to
learn just how phenomenal God is.
We all have the
opportunity for phenomenal blessings forever.
We all have the opportunity to learn and live life now, to the fullest. We all have the opportunity to breathe, to
smell the scents of creation, to experience foods, and relationships and on and
on.
But too, we can lose all
of that by simply being disobedient to God, and the greatest threat of them all
is that God may withhold blessings from us, which is a huge loss and risk for
our life. To lose everything means to
lose phenomenal blessing and happiness and more.
Look around at the most
difficult and vile things that can happen to a person in this world. Without God, that is a very real possibility,
and is that what anyone would want? Of course not! Life is full of examples that allow you to
discern between that which is desirable and that which is not.
But most people are
foolish enough to ignore their spiritual responsibilities and obligations that
they run the risk of losing Gods favor.
And there is nothing worse than that in life.
If you really desire to
have the fullest and most complete life, then you will search it out and pursue
it. But realize that the best of life
comes not from this world but from knowledge of Bible doctrine.
And if you are
indifferent toward a daily study, then you will not learn, and you will not
have the most complete life possible.
To sit back and pretend
or expect someone else to do things for you is a disgrace for you, as well as a
false desire on your part, which is nothing more than cheating yourself out of
life, and insulting God.
To refuse to comply with
your obligations and responsibilities of life, is not only disrespectful of
God, but a cheat and an insult for pretending to not know or assuming that they
do not apply to you.
Therefore, real fear
means compliance with Gods mandates, understanding the realities of life both
now and for all of eternity, and the implications of living with God verses
living without God, and most important of all, not playing games with the
seriousness of life and all that it stands for, by pretending or ignoring your
obligations to learn and know and comply.
A child has a tantrum
when someone else does not tie the shoes.
And responsible child will listen and learn how to tie their own shoes
and move on in life to greater things.
