On Jehovah's part He declares
"I have loved you," and on His people's part it is stated that
"they feared the Lord."
It does not say-"then
they that believed the Lord, or loved the Lord, or that were zealous in His
service, or holy in life, or higher in attainments, or deeper in experience-
but "then they that feared the Lord." So that this word
is for the feeble folk among our readers; those that fear the Lord and hope
in Him.
This fear is reverence
and not terror.
To fear the Lord is the
very opposite of being afraid of Him.
Only those really fear the
Lord, who know Him so well in all His holiness and love and sovereignty and
power, that they realize their own weakness and worthlessness and impotence
·
This fear of the Lord makes
men afraid of themselves; yea, afraid of their own wisdom and their
own will.
They are so convinced that
the Lord knows best, that they would rather Him do what He wills. Not because
by some act of faith they think they have given up their wills! Ah! dear
friends, our wills are not so easily got rid of as all that! No one can get
rid of the old nature as easily as that. Where this method is inculcated
and adopted, it has to be done over again; and this, again and again.
But where there is no effort;
where there is no thought of ourselves or of our own will; and where we fear
the Lord, and learn Him, and know Him, we are so convinced of His infinite
love, and infinite power that we are - without an effort- not merely
"willing", as the phrase goes - but thankfully anxious for Him to do all
His will; we would really prefer it to our own, because we fear the Lord.
This is where most Christians
today seek to end. But it is where we ought to begin, for "the fear of
the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." We are to begin therefore with
Him !
We speak often, one to another.
But what do we speak about? Well, though we speak to one another,
those who really fear the Lord, do not speak about one another.
We have something better to speak about! (Read Psalms 145 and there
you see what those who fear the Lord speak about). The first thing we say
to one another is - "Come ye children, hearken unto men: I will teach
you the fear of the Lord" (Ps. 34:11). The next thing we say,
is, "come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what He hath
done for my soul" (Ps. 66:16). Observe, it is "what HE hath
done." It is about His work for me, not about mine for Him !
