2 May 23 Tuesday: A Closer Walk Devotional

 2 MAY 23 Tuesday: A Closer Walk Devotional

“My child listen to what I say and treasure my commands.  Tune your ears to wisdom, and concentrate on understanding.  Cry out for insight, and ask for understanding.  Search for them as you would silver; seek them like hidden treasures.  Then you will understand what it means to fear the Lord, and you will gain knowledge of God.” Proverbs 2:1-5

Fear the Lord.  Let that sink in for a moment.  Whenever I hear someone speak about the fear of the Lord, they are quick to rephrase it to mean reverence or awe or shift our view to another more enjoyable attribute.  They water it down to make it more palatable for your senses so that it is not too salty. Are we missing something when we do that?

Yes! We lose the very thing that the author intends for us to find, wisdom and understanding.  When we look at the law, the ten commandments, it reveals to us our own human nature.  It reveals sin in our lives and our false self-assessment to be good people.  We are torn up from the floor up, broken beyond repair.  We would like to think we can fix ourselves, but all attempts at self-improvement fail.  Putting lipstick on a pig doesn’t change the fact that it is still a pig.

More importantly, the commands teach us about the nature of God.  He is holy.  God is completely perfect and sinless.  No one can stand before God in their sinful state and survive.  His Holiness will pronounce judgment and pay out the wages you have earned which is death.  That is scary! Terrifying! 

It is at that moment that the law becomes our schoolmaster that begs for salvation.  Jesus holds the keys to life and death, and makes the choice to give it or not.  Awe and reverence come after you have been shaken to repentance, but fear opens the eyes to see who God really is and our need for him.  It makes us desperate for a cure and to have peace with God.

Do you have the fear of the Lord?

Reading Plan: Psalm 45; Prov. 2; Col. 1:15-23;  Luke 6:12-26