Scared Smart
Proverbs
1:7 (New Living Translation)
Fear of
the Lord is the foundation of true knowledge, but fools despise
wisdom and discipline.
People who think
they’ve figured out God scare me. When
then go around telling others that they’ve figured out God scares me more. When they do this and are not themselves
scared scares me even more. And the
thought that I’ve done this in my past scares me the most. God only gives only small parts of Himself
for us to know because we would burn up under the light of His Glory if we saw
too much. When Moses wanted to see God,
God put him in a rock cave and covered the entrance and passed by and let Moses
peek at a little spot on God’s back.
Moses’ face glowed with inner light for days after. I believe he would have died if God had
showed him more.
I occasionally
listen to videos of “famous and popular ” preachers and some I relate to and
some scare me. They come into God’s
Presence so casually with so little reverence.
One of my weaknesses praying is I am hesitant to ask God for things that
are, on a global scale, trivial. And I
need to practice a little more boldness and do as the Bible teaches me and come
to Him as my Father God and ask what I need.
But the way some pray is downright rude.
I would never, in my craziest moments, presume to tell God that He owes
me and He’d better give me what He owes me or I’ll – I’ll – get really mad at
Him. Or something. I’m really not sure what they think the
consequences are to God if He fails to answer your prayer and give you
everything you ask. But He better give
them to you anyway! I am amazed at some
of the prayers I’ve heard. I am even
more amazed that lightning bolts haven’t fallen after they were spoken.
What ever
happened to Holy fear? That dread that
should come over you when you approach the Infinite, All-Knowing, Omnipotent
God, Creator of Heaven and Earth? Do you
feel gratitude that this Magnificent God would draw you to Himself and tell you
to call Him Father? We recognize Christ’s
sacrifice every year on Easter, but do we think of a God Who would make that
sacrifice - giving His Son to die for an ungrateful world? Approaching to that kind of love should make
you shudder in fear a least a little bit.
Yet many barge into God’s Presence like an obnoxious drunk at a
party. Again: What ever happened to Holy fear?
One of the
purposes of church is to help people draw closer to God, but maybe we forget to
teach proper reverence anymore. There is
a mystery about God that our minds will never figure out. We may think we have an understanding of God
but it is not really there. We think
it’s there, but we really don’t grasp Him in any way. We need to trust Him and have faith in Him
and accept that we don’t really know Him and never will. We need to bask in His light and be grateful
He draws us to Himself. We benefit from
His Mercy and His Grace but will never understand the love that provides them. We are the beneficiaries of a Being Who is
beyond our ability to know.
I find myself
yearning to run away from His face and hide, but am driven to draw closer to
Him and lose myself in His fire. I fear
being close to Him but fear being separated from Him. I can understand Isaiah’s cry, “Woe is me for
I am undone! I am a man of unclean lips and
I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips.” Why did he feel so unworthy? “For my eyes have seen the King, The Lord of
hosts.”
Stephen Cram October 13, 2013
Beware lest
any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, following the tradition
of men according to the rudiments of the world, and not in accordance with
Christ. Colossians 2:8
Visit my pastor’s blog at http://pastorjonrhinehart.blogspot.com/.
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