Recently, our oldest son and his four children came to
visit. They live a great distance from
us, so our times together over the years have been few and far between. However, when those rare times do occur, I
ask the Lord to provide an opportunity for me to share a story which may be
used to open the eyes of their understanding, and draw them closer to the
Lord. I must admit that reading and
telling stories, has been something that I have enjoyed doing with my own
children, and students who I was privileged to teach over the years. [5th
graders and up] Telling stories,
especially those that can be used to teach biblical principles, is a wonderful
way to build a closer bond with kids of all ages, and people in general.
I found out, three days before their arrival, that my son
and his children were coming for a brief visit.
It was supposed to be a surprise, but by mistake, my youngest son
slipped up and revealed the secret to me.
In the week or so before they came, I had been searching for a more
complete understanding of the meaning of the fear of the Lord. I prayed that the Lord might open a door for
me to share those findings with my son and his family at some point during
their visit, and He answered my prayer.
One afternoon during their visit, we were all gathered
together on our back porch. I believed
that God had prepared this occasion to provide that teachable moment with my
grandkids. I seized upon the opportunity
by first asking permission to share something that I had been studying from the
word of God in the days just previous to their arrival. Thankfully, they and their Dad seemed opened
to my request. The following, to the
best of my recollection, is the retelling of the story that the Lord gave me to
share with them that day:
In the past few days, I have been studying from the word of
God to learn what it means to fear the Lord.
Have you heard people make statements like: “Why would anyone want to believe in a God
that says I should fear Him? And what
about that part that says He is a jealous God?
I don’t want to believe in a God that is jealous of me? What good is it to know a God that tries to
control people through fear and jealousy?”
Now on the surface, those seem like reasonable questions which should lead
to truth and a reasonable way of thinking.
After all, wouldn’t it be logical to discard such a God? Well, that’s exactly the kind of twisted
thinking that Satan uses time and time again to try to rob, steal, and destroy
every person who would seek to know the Lord.
You see, we should never underestimate the power of Satan. He knows the word of God better than you and
me. Remember he was created as a very
special angel and lived with God in Heaven, until he got so full of pride, and
wanted to be exalted above God. As a
result, he was cast out of heaven. God
has already defeated Satan, but Satan is so full of himself, he believes he
still has a chance to defeat God. His
most favorite way of continuing his battle against God is by trying to destroy man,
God’s only creation on earth that has a spirit and is able to fellowship with
God. His favorite tool is deception,
always using the word of God, but twisting and perverting it just enough to
make his “logic” seem to be right and believable. That’s exactly what he’s doing once again
through the previously stated questions which use just enough truth from God’s
word to make them seem right in the eyes of man, but have enough lies to
implant doubt and unbelief so as to deceive mankind once again. Yes, we must remember he is the father of
lies, and his purpose is to steal, kill, and destroy you and me. (John 10: 10) Again, why does he want to destroy us? Because he knows how much God loves us. “For God so loved the world that He gave His
one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have
everlasting life.” (John 3: 17)
Let us first consider the original questions and see just
how they may “appear” to be very logical, and yet their appearance is very
deceiving, and does not lead to truth. The
two key words are fear, and jealous. These two words can mean very different
things, and must be understood as to how they are being used in the full
context of the scriptures.
God says that we are to fear the Lord with all our heart, mind,
and strength. This use of the word fear
in this manner includes the concepts of respecting, revering, and holding Him and
His word in high esteem, higher and above all else, that we might understand
that His thoughts and ways are higher than ours. In other words, in His wisdom, He knows what
is best for us far more than we do ourselves.
Therefore, we should abide by what He says, putting our trust in Him,
and not
trusting in our own thoughts, ways, and opinions. When we begin to think that our own intellect,
logic, and wisdom is wiser than His, then we exalt ourselves in pride, just
like Satan did. “Trust in the Lord with
all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall
direct thy paths.” (Prov. 3: 5, 6)
Following our own will, and not His will, is more frequently going to
cause us to detour from the right path; thus, leading us down the wrong path
that results in death and destruction, which can be physical and/or spiritual,
the latter being the worst, and eternally devastating. Fearing the Lord, in the true understanding
of respecting Him, involves not only His love towards us, but also our love for
Him. Truly loving Him will incorporate
within it a desire to refrain from disappointing Him. True love will cause us to do that which is
pleasing in the eyes of the one we love, not because we have to, but because we
want to. Thus, the fear, or respect, of
the Lord creates within the believer a desire and willingness to delight in
Him, a desire to please Him in thought, word, and deed. A child is made happy when she knows she has
pleased her Mama and Daddy. The same is
even truer when we know that He delights in us when we demonstrate love and
respect (fear) towards Him. This
respect, or fear, will act as a shield against evil, and will help us to resist
temptation.
Secondly, let us seek to understand what is meant by the
word jealous. “Thou shalt have no other god before me.” (Exod. 20: 3) “For thou
shalt worship no other god, for the Lord whose name is Jealous, is a jealous
God:”
(Exod. 34: 14) There is both
a positive and a negative meaning of the word jealous: the negative one being
‘to envy’; the positive one being “zealous – marked by an active interest and
enthusiasm over a possession; vigilant to guard and protect.” Do you see the great difference between the
two meanings? To believe that God envies
us, the ones that He created, shows a complete lack of understanding and a lack
of effort to study to gain a correct understanding of the word, as it is used
to express God’s care and love towards us. Even if we look at the meaning of the word
jealous in the earthly terms of how an earthly father is ‘jealous’ over his own
children, we would understand that a father does not envy his children.
Instead, the word jealous is used here to mean that even an earthly father is zealous
and vigilant to guard over, care for, and protect his children with
every means available to him. With the proper definition, we can all readily
understand the errors found in the previous way of thinking. With a limited knowledge of vocabulary, they
wrongly assumed that it meant that God envied mankind. Oh, how God must laugh at the foolishness of
mankind, when he willfully sets out to exalt his own intellect above the wisdom
and knowledge of God! Now, with this
deeper understanding, we can more readily understand just how much God does
love His children. Our God never
slumbers or sleeps, and He is jealous, zealous, and vigilant to watch over us,
desiring to care and provide for us every step of the way along our journey in
life. So now I ask; who, in their right
mind, would not want to believe in and serve such a caring and loving God?
To think that one can worship God and any other god(s) at
the same time is to be double- minded and unfaithful. Again by using an earthly example, we can see
the devastation caused by unfaithfulness when it is practiced within the
relationship of a husband and wife: infidelity, lack of loyalty, leads to the destruction
of trust, and results more often in divorce, a complete separation and break in
their relationship and fellowship with one another. “No one can serve two masters, for either he
will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise
the other. You can not serve God and
money.” (Matt. 6: 24) So it is with God;
we will either serve Him, being a doer of His word and not just a hearer, or we
will turn our backs on Him, forget His ways, and choose to follow our own will,
not His. There is no neutral state or
fence sitting with God. “He that is not
with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.”
(Matt. 12: 30)
Before continuing on with my story to the children, I
attempted to give them an even more secure understanding of the concept and
importance of the fear of the Lord. In
my previous studies before their arrival, I had discovered a valuable nugget
directly from God, for His word is more precious than silver or gold, and it is
powerful in pulling down the strongholds of Satan’s lies, and his attempts to
deceive us. “The fear of the Lord is to hate evil; pride, and arrogancy, and
the evil way, and the forward
[perverse, deceitful] mouth,
do I hate.” (Prov. 8: 13) Now, I love to study from the Psalms and Proverbs, so
I know I had read this before. However,
this time the words leapt right out from the scripture page, came alive, and
embedding themselves in both my mind and my heart. I had a greater understanding of the fear of
the Lord which I never had before. I
didn’t realize during my personal study time how God was not only teaching me,
but he was equipping me, planting a seed of truth, that I might be able to
share this new knowledge with the kids.
Hallelujah, God is great!
After laying this foundation for the kids, admittedly far
briefer than this, as I hoped to be able to get the point across, but not tax
or over burden their attention span, I relayed a personal experience from my
childhood which I hoped would convey a life lesson about how the fear of the
Lord, or lack of it, can bring consequences into our lives that can either
positively or negatively effect the whole direction of one’s life, both in the
here and now and into eternity.
The story unfolds in Savanna, Ga., when I was about 10 years old and in
the 5th grade. During school
that day, a young boy, a friend in my class, asked me to meet him after school
to go to the movies. We made our plans
to meet at a given point and time to walk the rest of the way to the theater
together. I was really looking forward
to our little ‘date’ and headed home at the end of the day to ask my Mama’s
permission to go. However, upon arriving
home, the only one present was my oldest sister. After telling her my plans, she wisely
advised me not to go, and warned me that if I did I would surely be in big
trouble. Generally speaking, I was, more
often than not, a rather compliant child and was not ordinarily prone to being
overly stubborn or rebellious. However,
that day I was bound and determined to have my own way. Even while I was doing this, I remember
feeling completely surprised by my own brazen choice to completely going
against even my own nature, and act with such complete stubbornness and
rebellion. All the way there, I could
still hear my sister’s warning of impending trouble and consequences. Yet, refusing to listen even to that inner
voice of conscience within, I did my utmost to suppress that prompting that was
trying to get me to turn back from doing what I knew was truly wrong. It wasn’t that going to a movie was wrong,
but I knew I was willfully choosing to be disobedient. For the moment, it seemed that I just didn’t
care. The idea of having my own way
seemed to take over, and to heck with anything else.
Upon arriving at our meeting point, we greeted each other
and proceeded on our way to the movie.
However, my joy of being with him was dulled. All through the movie, this
nagging voice inside kept saying: “Boy, are you going to get into trouble when
you get home.” Little did I know that
was going to be the least of my troubles?
The movie ended, and the thought came into my mind, maybe I could still
get back home in time before Mama got home.
Maybe there was still a slim chance that I could escape having to face
any consequences. However, the next
thing I knew, another movie began. Oh
no, it was a double feature. Boy was my
goose cooked! I was too embarrassed to
just get up and leave, for then I would have to confess that I had come without
permission. Now my pride was involved, and
I was stuck in the miry clay of my own stubbornness to have my own way, no
matter what the cost. By now, the rest
of the evening was completely void of any fun.
My conscience had totally kicked in, but still I could not confess to my
friend what I had done. By the time the
second movie was over, all that was left was a horrible nagging dread of what I
knew without a doubt I was going to have to face when I got home.
The movie was over, and as we stepped out into the
sunlight- O no, the day had turned to night!
As ominous as I felt at that moment, I didn’t realize how much worse the
evening was going to become. We began
walking back home together until we reached our meeting point; whereupon we had
to go our separate ways alone! I had no problem during the day finding my
way; however, now I found that everything looked different in the darkness. What had been familiar now became unfamiliar. After what seemed like an age, I had to admit
that my worst fear had come true; I was totally lost, a double whammy, lost
and alone! Continuing on, not
knowing what to do, I began to cry out to the Lord asking Him to please help
me. Oh yes, when this whole thing began,
I turned my heart away from Him in complete disobedience and rebellion. I didn’t want to listen to His voice then,
being too consumed with following my own desires.
Now however, being totally alone, lost, and scared out of
my wits, I turned back to the only one that I knew could help me. I kept on walking, asking the Lord to help me
find my way home. Finally, I saw a lady
getting out of her car in front of what I assumed was her house. A voice inside urged me to go ask her for
directions. At the same time, another
voice said: “What if she’s not a nice lady?”
Nice or not, dangerous or not; I had to take the risk, unless I wanted
to wander around in the dark for the rest of who knows how long, and probably
wind up getting more lost, or something worse.
Something worse? I wouldn’t let my mind go there to consider just what
that might be. I began praying once
again; “Lord, please let her be a nice lady.”
Mustering up every bit of courage within me, I approached her, told her
my address, and asked if she could give me directions to get there. She opened her mouth as though she was going
to give me directions, and then she paused.
Instead, she looked at me, with kindness and concern in her eyes, and
asked if I was lost. I replied, “Yes ma’am.” She told me to wait by her car while she took
her groceries inside, and said she would take me home, to which I replied,
“Thank you.” Part of me was
relieved. I silently thanked the Lord
for the help He sent in answer to my prayer.
After a time, she returned and ushered me into her car. I told
her my address once again. Realizing I
was in a car with a complete stranger and fearing what could possibly still go
wrong, I just continued to ask the Lord to protect me and keep me safe. It wasn’t long before we pulled up in front
of my home. I said good bye and thanked her, and the Lord, for returning me to
the safety of my home.
I was so thankful for finally being home, and yet, as I
entered, I knew I was going to be facing the complete disapproval of my
parents, followed by discipline that I knew would not be fun. My daddy was sitting just inside the door. Fear gripped my heart. As I looked at him, he didn’t ask me where I
had been, what I had done, or why I had been out so late. He didn’t even raise his voice, but with a
stern and deliberate voice, pointing in the direction of my room, he said, “Go
to your room, and bend over your bed!”
Knowing what was coming; I didn’t try to argue, or make protestations
and excuses, but simply replied in total regret, “Yes Sir.” I was now aware that Mama also was right
there beside him in my room. As I bent over
my bed, stealing my body against what was to come, I heard the sound of Daddy’s
belt being removed from his waist, and then came the sound of the deliberate
lashes as each blow crossed my bottom.
He stopped and handed it to my Mama, and she followed with the same
action. They both took another turn, not
being one bit moved by the sounds of my crying, or the sight of tears falling
down my face. Finally, my oldest sister
came in crying, “OK, that’s enough, that’s enough!” They quit, and she turned
and ran upstairs to her room. Both of my
parents told me to go to bed, and that was it.
I don’t remember either of them saying or doing anything further that
night or in the days thereafter.
Rebellion and disobedience had been swiftly met and addressed with the
consequences of sure and definite discipline, right then and there with no
reservations. I cried myself to sleep
that night, but even in my immature ten year old mind, I knew that I had
deserved every solitary snap of that belt.
Oh yes, part of me still tried to say, “How could they do that to me if
they really loved me?” But in my heart,
I could not argue with the fact that I had brought it all upon myself. None of this could have happened if I had
just been obedient and done what I knew was right, instead of doing what I knew
was wrong.
I ended the telling of the story with these last few
thoughts of admonition and truth from the word of God. Remember kids, a significant part of the true
meaning of the fear of the Lord is to hate evil. It means to respect and revere Him, and
acknowledge that He is wiser than we are; therefore, following His will is
always going to guide and lead us in the right direction for our own good. God doesn’t tell us not to do things because
He wants to act as a domineering tyrant.
He instructs and corrects us because He loves us and wants only what is
best for us. He is jealous, not of us,
but over us, for it is His delight and desire to guard us, to place a hedge of
protection around us to keep us safe from evil and destruction. Was the
discipline I received fun? Did I jump up
and down with joy at the time, or go running into the arms of my parents to
thank them for the discipline that they had administered to me that night? Of
course not, after all I’m just like any other human being.
Though everything looked pretty bad that night, over the
years, it was used for my good. Just
think of all the horrible things that could have happened to me! Being lost and
alone was only a small portion of what could have happened. I’ll leave all of those possibilities to your
imagination. Furthermore, the events of
that night were not just about me either.
Put yourself in the shoes of my parents, or any parents who care about
their children and you may be able to understand, at least in part, the
terrible agony and pure torcher that I had put them through. No, I didn’t set out to cause them such pain
and worry; nevertheless, that was the result.
Our choices in life, and the consequences of them, do not just affect
ourselves, but also all those who care about and love us. By my rebellious disobedience, I had
inflicted fear into their hearts also.
There are many morals which could be learned from this
story, or life lesson, as I prefer to call it.
I pray that it may be used to cause the truths from God’s word to come
alive within you, and direct your paths.
This is the question that I leave for you to ponder upon, digest, and
form a nugget of truth to be used as a rudder to guide your own life and
choices. We are lost at sea without the
fear of the Lord to be our compass, or direction guide, and rudder, or steering
mechanism. How can any of us learn to hear from God and obey Him who we can not
see, if we refuse to listen to and obey our parents who we can see? “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom:
and knowledge of the holy is understanding.” (Prov. 9: 10)
God has given us His very own
story, The Bible. It is filled with the
greatest of treasures, and best life stories ever told, most importantly, the
life story of Jesus, the Son of God who has loved us first. I hope you enjoyed and learned something from
my story. But even more, I pray that it
will be an instrument to direct and encourage you to read and learn from the
greatest story ever told, the Word of God, the Bible. Remember, “The fear of the Lord is to hate
evil.” He is a jealous God being zealous
and vigilant over you to guard and protect you from evil. May the Lord write this truth on the tablets
of your heart that it may become a light to direct your path!
** See next pg. for suggested activities to promote further
Bible study.
Suggested possible activities
for further Bible for individuals or groups:
1.
What other morals
or ‘life lessons’ do you think can be learned from this story?
2.
Read Proverbs- copy
and discuss the scriptures that mention and give further enlightenment of the
meaning of the ‘fear of the Lord.’
3.
Discuss events in
your life used to teach to teach you a valuable lesson. How did it served to protect you from
suffering harm, or from repeating the same mistake(s) (or sins)? What bible principles in the can be connected
to support the life lesson?
4.
Write a life
lesson story of your own and share it with others.
5.
Related study:
God’s discipline, chastisement, judgment. Is it meant for your good or for your
harm?
Previous to the arrival of my son and his children, the
following is the list of scriptures that I compiled and studied from the Book
of Proverbs. Isn’t God great? It is wonderful and amazing when we have the
opportunity to reflect and see how He really does direct the path of our life’s
journey, if we are willing to study, listen, learn from, and obey Him. “O taste and see that the Lord is good:
blessed is the man that trusteth in Him.”(Psalm 34: 8)
Proverbs:
1: 7, 23, 29; 14: 2, 25, 27; 23: 17;
3: 7; 15:
16, 33; 112: 1;
8: 13; 16: 6;
9: 10; 19: 23;
13: 13; 22: 4;
