Growing in Fear of the LORD!

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,
    and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight." Proverbs 9:10

"He will be the sure foundation for your times,
    a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge;
    the fear of the Lord is the key to this treasure." Isaiah 33:6

"The fear of the Lord means reverent submission that leads to obedience, and it is interchangeable with 'worship,' 'rely on,' 'trust,' and 'hope in.'" Edward T. Welch

I was searching through all my sermon notes from church today, and I found my notes from a sermon titled "Delighting in the Fear of the Lord". Guess the date of this sermon? October 3, 2010. Oh yes, God just did that! This was God's way of confirming to me all that He's been revealing through 1 and 2 Samuel. God is so playful with me!

This is hysterical because as I've been abiding in God through 1 and 2 Samuel, God has been laying on my heart that everything can be broken down into 2 categories: you either fear the Lord or you fear something else {fear of man}.

I've recently shared my personal sin with fear of man, and lately I've been stressed as a new parent about how I will parent Caleb. How will I mold Caleb's heart to love God, to trust Him, to not rebel? How do I parent Caleb to be a man of great faith, and a man after God's heart??

 This is what God has said while I've been asking Him to heal my fear of man, and guide me as a parent:

David Loves People Well:

*2 Samuel 1:12--David wept, fasted, and mourned for both Saul and Jonathan's death!

*2 Samuel 1:19-27--David sings a song about Saul and Jonathan and makes everyone learn it! He really loved Saul.

*2 Samuel 2:5-6--David BLESSES them because they showed kindness to Saul!

*2 Samuel 4:10-11--David loves his enemies well!

Fear of the LORD:

*2 Samuel 6:7 "and God struck him dead on the spot for his irreverence"

*2 Samuel 6:9 "David feared the LORD that day and said, 'How can the ark of the LORD ever come to me?'"

The sermon on "Delighting in the fear of the Lord" says, "The fear of the Lord is the awe and wonder that is demonstrated by humble submission to, unconditional trust in, and sincere obedience to the sovereign rule of God." Yes! That's why David can love Saul and his enemies well, because he fears the LORD! David can love the people that try to KILL him, because he worships and trusts God!  

"And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell." Matthew 10:28

Did you see 2 Samuel 6:7, "God struck him dead...for his irreverence."? Fear of the LORD is serious to God. God loves to display His Holy love and Holy justice, and invites us to know His true heart, so I should be in awe of how David loves well, and I should be scared out of my mind when God justly kills someone for his irreverence. This awe and fear should produce action, an action of worship, trust, and hope in God. So why am I lacking in action??

If I want to parent Caleb well, and if I want God to heal my fear of man sin, then I must grow in the fear of the LORD! Only then, can I parent and teach Caleb to do the same. Teaching fear of the Lord is the key to good parenting. 

And so, I press on abiding in God through sitting alone at His feet asking Him to reveal Himself through His Word, and praying that He would give me a fierce heart that fears Him alone. That's my prayer for you too.

"The key to learning the fear of the Lord is to stay in scripture. When you are in scripture, pray that God would teach you that he is the Holy One."

"The triune God delights in showing us his grandeur and holiness, and we should never be satisfied with our present knowledge of him. So aspire to the fear of the Lord."--Edward T. Welch, "When People are Big and God is Small" 

linking up at: