Bible Verse of the Day Tuesday February 6th, 2024

Psalm 47:2 For the LORD most high is terrible; he is a great King over all the earth. —

There is nothing wrong with a healthy fear of certain things in life. For example, I am not an extreme risk-taker. You will never catch me rock climbing or anything that will place my life in unnecessary danger. I am also not the world's biggest fan of snakes. The size or the type of snake doesn't matter to me; I do not like snakes. If I am near a snake, I respect it and what it is capable of and attempt to put maximum space between the snake and myself with as much hast as possible. For people who take on dangerous activities or have a pet snake, I must admire them. There is a level of fear that I have that they can overcome. Those are things that I will never be able to do.

 

While they may overcome their fear, there is a specific type of fear that we should never overcome. That is our fear of God. It is not that we are afraid of God, but that we respect Him, who He is, and what He can do. We should reverence Him and adore Him because of who He is. The Psalmist writes of God as the highest and "terrible." The word terrible in this context is not awful in the sense of being horrible. It is not that God is unfair, unkind, or unjust. Instead, it's respecting, adoring, and loving Him for who He is.

 

We should all have a healthy respect for God. He is the one over all the earth, as the Psalmist writes. But more than that, He is our God and our Lord. He is so good to each of us, even when we do not deserve it. Across the world, many followers of Christ Jesus need reassurance and strength that only the Word of God can provide. We should focus on helping Christians find encouragement, develop stronger relationships with God, and help the world's lost souls come to a saving knowledge of Christ Jesus and His gospel.

 

The fear of God is not a worldly fear in which we might be shaking in our boots and looking for a hiding place. Heartfelt fear of God instigates Christ Followers to put their faith and trust in Him alone for salvation. For example, after the Israelites walked on the dry ground of the Red Sea and God destroy the entire Egyptian army that was in pursuit of them, they "feared the Lord and put their trust in Him."

 

This psalm inspires all who fear God to "trust in the Lord–He is their help and shield" (Psalms 115:11). Put another way, fearing God fearing God produces conviction and assurance, hope and trust in Him, which are necessary when we are looking to God for mercy, forgiveness (Luke 1:50; Psalm 103:11; 130:4) and spiritual salvation (Psalms 85:9). Here, fearing God means to be moved to belief and trust.