Monday, May 31, 2010

Deuteronomy 10:12

Deuteronomy 10:12 And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, (KJV)
(NIV) And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul,

What or who do you fear? It seems I am always fearful that someone in my circle of family or friends will get hurt. Just the other day, my husband Rob had to climb on the roof to clean out our gutters. I'm always afraid that he will fall. Some time ago when we were adding on to our house, Rob asked me to climb a ladder to get a view of the roof that I wouldn't be able to get after the addition was done. I didn't want to, but he insisted, so I went up the ladder. Well, fear gripped me in such a way, that I was glued to that spot. I couldn't move my feet either up or down on that ladder. Rob had to physically grab my legs one at a time and move them down the ladder, because fear had paralized me!

Perhaps you fear for your loved ones or heights as I do. Maybe you fear the dark as many children do. Perhaps you are claustrophobic (fear of being closed in) or fear animals, water, certain people, or something else. The Bible in Hebrews tells us to not fear what man can do to us. However, in the book of Deuteronomy in our verse for this week it tells what we do need to fear - the Lord your God.

Perhaps you are thinking, "Isn't God a god of love? Why should we fear a God of love?" You would be right in thinking that God is a god of love, but we still need to fear Him. Some people interpret this word "fear" as respect and honor. I was told as a teenager that we needed to fear God that we do not respect and honor Him enough. Do we spend enough time with him? Do we cheerfully and abundantly share our talents and our money to honor him? Do we worship and serve him?

God loves us and will not fail us in the end if we know him as our Saviour and Lord, but in some ways, I "fear" that I do not honor him nearly enough for all he has done for me. We don't need to be paralized with fear because of God's great love for us, but we do need to be in awe of God and honor and respect him at all times wherever we are.