Still More Blessings

Yesterday I began to describe the special blessings we receive as we cultivate the fear of the Lord in our lives. I actually spoke of five such blessings. The first, wisdom. We saw that wisdom and the fear of the Lord can never be separated. The second, spiritual cleansing. I suggested that the fear of the Lord is a kind of spiritual antiseptic that kills the things that would corrupt our life. The third, guidance, instruction, prosperity. Particularly I pointed out that the Lord chooses his pupils. He chooses them on the basis of a character requirement. “Who is the man who fears the Lord? Him God will teach.” Fourth, a long and a good life. It’s not enough to have a long life if it’s not a good life. It’s just so many more years of misery. But the fear of the Lord brings both a long life and a good life. And fifth, deliverance from all other fears.

Now, if there were no other blessings aside from these it would surely be foolish not to desire and to cultivate a fear of the Lord. But the fact is that there are yet other blessings on top of these I’ve already mentioned that flow out from this one fountain, the fear of the Lord. You remember I read yesterday the fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, the fountain of life that produces multitudinous blessings. Today we’re going to look together at some of these additional blessings I didn’t mention yesterday.

Most of these Scriptures are found in the book of Proverbs. The next blessing I’m going to mention I’ve defined this way: abiding satisfaction and freedom from evil. The verse that I’m going to read now I think is one of the most astonishing verses in the Bible. I just marvel that people can read the Bible and pass it by. Proverbs 19:23:

“The fear of the Lord leads to life: then one rests content, untouched by trouble.”

Did you know that it was possible to have that kind of a life? The King James Version is beautiful.

The fear of the Lord tendeth to life: and he that hath it shall abide satisfied; he shall not be visited with evil.

How many people do you know who abide satisfied? Who are never disturbed, never lose the victory, never are overcome by depression or negative emotion? They abide satisfied, they’re peaceful, secure people? It’s not that they don’t have problems and temptations but they have something in them that gives them additional strength and peace. It’s the fear of the Lord. Let me read that King James Version again.

The fear of the Lord tendeth to life: and he that hath it shall abide satisfied; he shall not be visited with evil.

Let me ask you, Do you have it? Do you abide satisfied?

The next blessing I want to mention is riches, honor and life. Proverbs 22:4:

“Humility and the fear of the Lord bring wealth, and honor, and life.”

Any one of those things would be desirable but think of the combination of the three: wealth, honor and life. I expect you’ve noticed as we’ve been going through this study the continued repetition of the word “life” in association with the fear of the Lord.

Then, another blessing, security and assured future. Proverbs 23:17–18:

“Do not let your heart envy sinners [because there’s nothing in their lives to be envied] but live in the fear of the Lord always. Surely there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off.”

That’s good counsel. Live in the fear of the Lord always. Cultivate it, walk in it. Let it be the way you look at everything. Let it be the basis of your evaluation of what you do. Live in the fear of the Lord. Don’t envy sinners. There’s nothing that they have that you’ll need if you walk in the fear of the Lord. “Surely there’s a future, your hope will not be cut off.” You have an assured future. You don’t need to be concerned about what lies ahead. God is going to take care of you, He has a plan for you, He has a place for you. Not just in eternity but in time. God is going to take care of those who live always in the fear of the Lord.

I’ve been speaking of the multitudinous blessings that flow from the fear of the Lord. To close my talk I want to deal with a very important practical question. How can we achieve the fear of the Lord? I want to suggest to you that primarily it comes from a decision. Very often in the Christian life we attach too much importance to our emotions. We let our emotions dictate to us but the important things in the Christian life come as a result of decision, not of emotions. They spring from the will. And very often, if we are too conscious of our emotions and their pressures, we don’t make the right decisions with our will. Our decisions are blurred and fuzzy. It takes a clear, sharp, firm decision of the will to cultivate the fear of the Lord. It begins with a decision.

I’m going to read a rather lengthy passage from the first chapter of Proverbs that brings out this point, as you’ll see when I read. In this passage wisdom, the wisdom of God, is speaking to men. I’m going to begin at verse 24 and read through verse 33.

But since you rejected me when I called and no one gave heed when I stretched out my hand, since you ignored all my advice, and would not accept my rebuke...

This is wisdom chiding man with rejecting. Then God says, in the person of Wisdom:

“I in turn will laugh at your disaster; I will mock when calamity overtakes you—when calamity overtakes you like a storm, when disaster sweeps over you like a whirlwind, when distress and troubles overwhelm you. Then they will call to me but I will not answer: they will look for me but will not find me. Since they hated knowledge, and did not choose to fear the Lord, since they would not accept my advice, and spurned my rebuke, they will eat the fruit of their ways and be filled with the fruit of their schemes. For the waywardness of the simple will kill them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them; but whoever listens to me will live in safety, and be at ease, without fear of harm.” (Proverbs 1:26-33)

Did you notice the words that I emphasized there in the middle? Where wisdom says, “They hated knowledge and did not choose to fear the Lord.” The Hebrew says literally, “Did not choose the fear of the Lord.” The fear of the Lord comes by choice, it comes by decision. It doesn’t just happen, it isn’t an accident. It isn’t a thing that some people are born with and some people are not born with. It’s not like the color of your hair. It’s something that depends on your decision. You see, when God speaks in the person of Wisdom, He offers such attractive inducements. At the end of that passage He says, “Whoever listens to me will live in safety and be at ease, without fear of harm.” We’ve seen that all along. This is the kind of life that’s promised to those who cultivate the fear of the Lord. But we have to choose. We have to make a decision. I believe this decision is the watershed of a human life. On one side there’s peace, security, abiding satisfaction, length of life, honor. On the other side there’s frustration, fear, pressures, an inability to cope, an uncertainty about the future, anxiety, neurosis, all sorts of things that eat away at human life, destroy human personalities.

Which side of that watershed are you going to live on? Are you going to choose the fear of the Lord.

I want to return, in closing, to that first commandment in Exodus 20:2–3:

“I am the Lord your God... you shall have no other gods before or beside me.”

I said earlier in my talks I believe this is the essence of the fear of the Lord, it’s the decision that we make in our personal relationship with God. You are my God. There is nothing in life that I’ll put on the same level with you. There’s nothing that will challenge your right to my will, to my obedience. I’m making you absolutely and without question my God. I believe the decision can be expressed in words spoken to God. We can say to God, “Lord, you are my God. I will worship you, serve you, obey you. You shall have first place in every area of my life.” Would you like to make that decision? Would you say those words after me, if I repeat them? “Lord, you are my God. I will worship you, serve you, obey you. You shall have first place in every area of my life. Amen. So be it.”

Our time is up for today. I’ll be back with you again next week at this same time, Monday through Friday. Next week we’ll look together at another rich and exciting theme from the inexhaustible treasure of Scripture. If you would like to study this theme of the fear of the Lord more fully in the quietness of your own home with opportunity to go back over points of special interest to you, all my five talks this week on “The Fear of the Lord” are available in a single, carefully edited, sixty minute cassette. Also, this week I’m making a special offer of my book, The Grace of Yielding. In simple and practical terms, this book explains one important way in which you can cultivate the fear of the Lord in your own life. The announcement that follows will tell you how to obtain both the cassette and the book.