Tag Archives: no fear of God

SHAKING AND WAKING

Apologetics, ,

What on earth is happening in our world? One only needs to follow the information pouring out on social media, Google news, YouTube etc., to catch a glimpse of the goings-on in the nations. Yes, we must be discerning because misinformation is as prolific as genuine news. However, not everything we read and hear is false. Evidence is everywhere and available to confirm the information we are receiving.

How do we process this plethora of events, happening so fast that, before we blink an eye, situations have changed. It seems as though a mighty hand has dipped into the pot of nations, stirred them around to bring up the silt, and left their citizens reeling in confusion and fear.

Take, for one example, the mess that is happening everywhere as thousands of people flee their homelands because of strife, only to create more strife where they go for refuge. Whole nations are being diluted by immigrants, legal and illegal. Some of the intruders are even trying to force their own country’s laws and culture on their adopted homeland, causing as much strife as the strife they left behind.

While it is good to receive those who are fleeing from suffering in their own land, it is not good to be so overwhelmed when they bring with them their own set of problems and misdemeanours that the host nation begins to collapse.

The chaos is out of hand. Stability, economies, systems of government and control, law and order, are under severe pressure and collapsing under the weight of the disturbances. Money is losing its value, world leaders are scrambling for answers, stabbing in vain at new ideas to hold things together.

Then we have the plight of those who are scurrying around in their own countries like frightened rabbits because of wars and internal conflicts. They have nowhere to go, nowhere to hide. Fear haunts them like a ghostly monster. Enemies are everywhere. Who can they trust?

Then, just to add to the suffering, weather patterns have gone crazy. “Global warming” and “climate change” are on everyone’s lips. Huge areas, whole cities, are under water. Extreme heat and cold are swallowing lives. Storm more violent than the earth has ever known, are wreaking destruction. Homes, neighbourhoods, are disappearing into the collapsing landscape. It’s as though the earth is writhing in pain as it witnesses the bitter conflicts in the nations. And so it is!

Romans 8:20-22 NLT
[20] “Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope, [21] the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay. [22] For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.”

Where is God in this mess? Does He have anything to say?

There are two words that highlight God’ doings in these days. He is shaking the nations and waking the spiritually dead.

Hebrews 12:26-27 NLT
[26] “When God spoke from Mount Sinai his voice shook the earth, but now he makes another promise: “Once again I will shake not only the earth but the heavens+ also.” [27] This means that all of creation will be shaken and removed, so that only unshakable things will remain.”

The one great, overriding reason for this uncontrollable chaos is…

Romans 3:11-12, 16-18 NLT
[11] “No one is truly wise; no one is seeking God. [12] All have turned away; all have become useless. No one does good, not a single one.”…
[16] Destruction and misery always follow them. [17] They don’t know where to find peace.” [18] “They have no fear of God at all.”

Do you get the picture? When the people in the world deliberately choose to leave God out of their lives, they create their own consequences. God has no option but to leave them to their own devices or to shake everything people trust.

However, He also has a plan… to shake the world awake!

The global shaking that is going on under our noses right now, brings out two responses from us humans.

The Bible vividly describes the response of world leaders and all others, to the shaking.

Some shake their fists at God…

Psalms 2:1-3 NLT
[1] “Why are the nations so angry? Why do they waste their time with futile plans? [2] The kings of the earth prepare for battle; the rulers plot together against the Lord and against his anointed one. [3] “Let us break their chains,” they cry, “and free ourselves from slavery to God.”

Others flee in fear…

Revelation 6:12-17 NLT
[12] “I watched as the Lamb broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake. The sun became as dark as black cloth, and the moon became as red as blood. [13] Then the stars of the sky fell to the earth like green figs falling from a tree shaken by a strong wind. [14] The sky was rolled up like a scroll, and all of the mountains and islands were moved from their places. [15] Then everyone—the kings of the earth, the rulers, the generals, the wealthy, the powerful, and every slave and free person—all hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains. [16] And they cried to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of the one who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. [17] For the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to survive?”

No repentance, no taking responsibility, no grief over their ungodly lives…just defiance or panic and fear!

Isaiah 26:5, 9-11, 21 NLT
[5] He humbles the proud and brings down the arrogant city. He brings it down to the dust…
[9] In the night I search for you; in the morning I earnestly seek you. For only when you come to judge the earth will people learn what is right. [10] Your kindness to the wicked does not make them do good. Although others do right, the wicked keep doing wrong and take no notice of the Lord’s majesty. [11] O Lord, they pay no attention to your upraised fist. Show them your eagerness to defend your people. Then they will be ashamed. Let your fire consume your enemies…
[21] Look! The Lord is coming from heaven to punish the people of the earth for their sins. The earth will no longer hide those who have been killed. They will be brought out for all to see.”

Then there are those who steadfastly trust and obey the Lord.

Isaiah 26:16-18, 20 NLT
[16] ” Lord, in distress we searched for you. We prayed beneath the burden of your discipline. [17] Just as a pregnant woman writhes and cries out in pain as she gives birth, so were we in your presence, Lord. [18] We, too, writhe in agony, but nothing comes of our suffering. We have not given salvation to the earth, nor brought life into the world…”

…but the Lord says…

[20] Go home, my people, and lock your doors! Hide yourselves for a little while until the Lord’s anger has passed.”

Like those who were saved from death in the ark when the great flood fell on the earth, the Lord will protect those who take shelter in Him. Not even death can separate from the Lord those who trust in Him.

Isaiah 26:19 NLT
[19] “But those who die in the Lord will live; their bodies will rise again! Those who sleep in the earth will rise up and sing for joy! For your life-giving light will fall like dew on your people in the place of the dead!”

Not so prominent in the media but just as real is the awakening! God’s shaking is waking the spiritually dead and bringing them back to life. Thousands upon thousands, all over the nations, are turning to the Lord in their suffering. Celebrities in Hollywood, Jewish leaders and ordinarily Jews s of all persuasions, inside and outside Israel, Muslims and Imams in the Arab nations, ordinary people in the United Kingdom…England, Ireland, and Scotland reporting spiritual revival…joy despite their circumstances…singing and celebrating in the streets of London. Thousands in Iran are believing in Jesus. Even many ex terrorists, Jihad extremists, have turned to the Lord from their murderous hatred for Jews to faith in Jesus and love for God’s people. Reports in the media are telling the story.

We can only conclude that all this is the work of God. He is winding up history in preparation for Jesus’ return and the coming of His kingdom on earth.

How must we respond to these events?

Hebrews 12:28 NLT
[28] “Since we are receiving a Kingdom that is unshakable, let us be thankful and please God by worshiping him with holy fear and awe.”

Let’s rejoice in God’s intervention as we await the day when…

Habakkuk 2:14 NIV
[14] “… The earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.”

No Fear Of God

Bible Study, , ,

NO FEAR OF GOD

As it is written,                                                                                                                                   “There is no one righteous, not even one;                                                                                       there is no one who understands;                                                                                                     there is no one who seeks God.                                                                                                      All have turned away,                                                                                                                         they have together become worthless;                                                                                           there is no one who does good, not even one.’  (Psalm 14:1-3)                                                   ‘Their throats are open graves;                                                                                                       their tongues practise deceit.’ (Psalm 5:9)                                                                                   ‘The poison of vipers is on their lips.’ (Psalm 140:3)                                                                     ‘Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.’ (Psalm 10:7)                                                   ‘Their feet are swift to shed blood;                                                                                                   ruin and misery mark their ways,                                                                                                   and the way of peace they do not know.’ (Isaiah 59:7. 8)                                                           ‘There is no fear of God before their eyes.’” (Psalm 36:1)                                                            Romans 3:10-18.

Wow, Paul! These are strong words against humanity! But Paul didn’t write them; he only quoted them from the words that others had written. This was God’s diagnosis of the state of the people of the world.

Paul sandwiched the description of the human race between two statements which summed up what the world was like then and what it is still like now.

“There is no one who seeks God…There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

It all comes back to the problem of the human heart which Paul stated at the beginning of his discourse. When people want to live their sinful lives, they conveniently forget that God exists; that there are consequences for everything they do and that they are accountable to Him for their actions. Refusal to acknowledge God does not make Him go away, nor does it make Him ignore them.

Paul’s conclusion is that those who insist on doing things their way have no fear of God. What does it mean to fear God? Are we supposed to be terrified of Him because of what He can do to us?

The fear of the Lord is a big subject, too big to discuss here, but it would do us good to grasp a few of the elements of godly fear if we want to live our lives in peace.

To fear God is to honour and revere Him because He is holy and because He knows everything about us. We cannot escape His scrutiny or His judgement. It is to live transparently before Him, in submission and obedience to His ways because it is the right thing to do. Righteous living honours Him and benefits us, bringing His blessing and favour on our lives.

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” Proverbs 9:10.

“Beginning” here is the foundation or building blocks of wisdom – like the alphabet is to learning. Wisdom, in very simple terms, is doing what works.

“To fear the Lord is to hate evil.” Proverbs 8:13.

Since God is holy, completely separate from everything imperfect, and He made us to have fellowship with Him, He requires that we also separate ourselves from everything that offends His holiness.

“Come out from among them and be separate,” says the Lord. “Touch no unclean thing and I will receive you.” 2 Corinthians 6:17.

Jesus is a perfect example of one who feared the Lord. It was prophesied of Him in Isaiah 11:2, 3 – “The Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him…the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord – and He will delight in the fear of the Lord.” 

Compare His life with the lives of those who ride roughshod over God’s commandments and pollute everyone and everything they touch. People who ignore God leave misery and suffering in their wake, while Jesus and those who follow Him bring blessing and hope to unhappy people.

God created us to be one with Him. We cannot live in harmony with Him and with the world around us unless we honour Him and do what He requires of us, remembering that He is the inescapable God. Whether we face Him in honour or in judgment, we will face Him and receive from Him the reward for our deeds.

“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.”

2 Corinthians 5:10.

Acknowledgement

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