"that they may learn to fear Me..."

Devotion for Tuesday, June 9, 2020

Deuteronomy 4:10, “that they may learn to fear Me…”

How do you fear the LORD? It is one thing to acknowledge that we must fear God and to define it properly as holy reverence and respect for our Creator. It is another thing entirely to actually practice the fear of the LORD.

So, how do you fear the LORD? Where do you start?

We must understand that the fear of the LORD is LEARNED. The fear of God is developed, honed, and acquired through the process of sanctification. Before the people of Israel were to enter into the Promised Land, Moses reminds the congregation of the words Jehovah gave to them at Mt. Sinai. The LORD said to Moses on that day, “Assemble the people to Me, that I may let them hear My words, so that they may learn to fear Me all the days they live on the earth and that they may teach their children.” (Deuteronomy 4:10)

This verse gives us a major clue as to how to learn to fear God. The fear of the LORD is developed through the intake of God’s Word. Why did the people of God in the Old Testament ultimately reject the LORD? It is because they neglected God’s Word. They forgot its precepts and its life giving instruction.

God’s main desire for your life is to become more like Him. That is the process of sanctification – that you become Christlike. You cannot be Christlike without fearing our Holy God. We must understand the process so that we can be focused on the road ahead. God desires to take someone who is dead in trespasses and sins, who has a conscience seared and blinded against the truth of God, and turn him or her into a born-again believer with a heart cleansed with the blood of Christ and a conscience clean and sensitive to the guidance of the Holy Spirit in the Word of God.

Why does our culture not fear God? It seems to be no fluke that the decline in the fear of God and His holiness has coincided with an atmospheric rise in biblical illiteracy in this country and around the world. Understand that proper, holy fear and reverence of God is irrevocably linked with a love, devotion, and obedience of His Word. We learn the fear of the LORD when we hear His words and do them. Then, we teach our children those same words of life.