Time in the Word ~ Psalm 2:11

Most of us don’t like the words “fear and trembling.” The connotation of these words in our culture is overwhelmingly negative, and in fact usually associated with narrow restrictive views of salvation and punishment. I under-stand that reaction from people, but the truth is that God must be feared and God must be honored as sacred and special when we are in his presence. To me I interpret the word “fear” as “respect and honor”.

What David tells us in our devotional text is that our service to the Lord must come from a sacred motivation in our hearts. The word I use is “reverence,” in that if anyone is to submit to God as a servant and obey him, it will first require that he reverence God as to who he is in this world (Hebrews 5:7-8). We live at a time and in a culture that spurns the sacred things and seeks to make all things common or profane. It results in a lack of respect and fear for spiritual things, principals, and most importantly, the authority of the Word of God, our Holy Bible. When we don’t reverence truth, then we will never be able to be situated rightly with God to serve him, because there is no respect or fear for his name and his authority over us. We are privileged to be in Christ and to be counted on as servants of the Lord, and if we are to serve fully, we must reverence the spiritual things of God.

David also said that we must rejoice with trembling, which means that we must stand in awe of God and what he does for us in our lives. Our God does awesome things in our lives and God expects us to recognize them and praise his name by rejoicing on what he makes happen. If we are sober-minded in this world and walking rightly with him, God will make known to us his intervention in our lives. Friend, when this happens stop, kneel, and shout out in joy and thanksgiving your prayer to the Holy Father. Trembling in the presence of the Lord doesn’t mean that we are paralyzed, but it means that we know who God is and who we are enabled as his people to fulfill his great purposes in our lives.

Consider this as you enter the presence of this awesome God of the universe and reach up to him for his blessing, love, and protection. When you pray, you are on holy ground every bit as Moses was in Sinai in front of the burning bush. You are in the presence of Holy God and we should be overwhelmed with reverence for who he is and joy for what he does for us in Jesus Christ. You can’t be a Christian without being a servant and living a life of thanksgiving and expressive joy that is noticeable by the world. In our devotional text David reminds us of the emotional condition that we should sustain each and every day as we walk with Jesus Christ, if we are to make this a reality in our lives.

TODAY I WILL SERVE MY LORD WITH FEAR AND I WILL REJOICE IN TREMBLING BEFORE HIM, FOR HIS WORKS ARE AWESOME AND VERY GOOD.

Article Source: Mike White @ summitchurchofchrist.org