Fearing God in God's Economy

Fearing God

Fearing God is the first principle for a man to live a normal and proper life. Fearing God on the negative aspects are to be in fear of offending Him, losing His presence now, and losing His reward in the coming age. Fearing God on the positive aspects are to trust in Him, to honor Him, to be in His presence, to live long, to be full of joy and rejoicing with His blessings.

Fearing God by Trusting in God 

Proverbs 3 

5. Trust in Jehovah with all your heart, / And do not rely on your own understanding; 6. In all your ways acknowledge Him, / And He will make your paths straight. 

As one who fear God, we will trust God whole heartedly. We will not lean on our own understanding and acknowledge Him in all our ways. In our personal life, family life, and church life, we will be afraid of our self, of our natural man with all its smartness, and turn away from any human wisdom,  but we will fully trust in Jehovah.

Fearing God by Departing from Evil

Proverbs 3

7. Do not be wise in your own eyes; / Fear Jehovah, and depart from evil. 8. It will be healing to your body / And refreshment to your bones. 

A proper fear of God will keep us away from evils; sins, the world, and Satan himself. This reverential fear of God should be inculcated in all of us, especially the children and young people. It is only this that can save us from the temptations and corruption of this world, especially the influence from friends, peers, and colleagues.

Fearing God and Having God's Intimate Counsel

Psalms 25:14

The intimate counsel of Jehovah is to those who fear Him, / And His covenant will He make known to them. 

In fearing God, we would seek God's will with our whole heart and completely submit to Him and obey His counsel. For all things related to us, we would seek His will and be afraid of our self will. In making decision in life, we must fear God and seek and do only His will. This will be a salvation from wrong wills and a reward to receive God's blessings.

Fearing God by Honoring God 

Proverbs 3

9. Honor Jehovah with your substance / And with the firstfruits of all your produce; 10. Then your barns will be filled with plenty, / And your vats will burst open with new wine. 

A proper fear of God would always lead us to honor Him by offering to Him from what He blessed us with. Most practically, honoring Him through our offering of money, by at least one-tenth of all our income. Besides, we must also offer our time, if possible, one-tenth of twenty four hours a day, for prayer, Bible reading, and other spiritual activities specifically. This will be an honor to God and a blessing to us. Many suffer unnecessary,  especially in their finance, because they fail to honor God in money matter. The best investment and saving plan is to offer to God from what He has blessed us with. It is folly to assume that one can get richer by not offering. Rather, in not offering one will end up wasting money after all. The same applies with our time. Any time that we did not spend foe the Lord or on the Lord would literally be a waste. Beware!

Fearing God by Being in Christ 

Isaiah 11:2

And the Spirit of Jehovah will rest upon Him, / The Spirit of wisdom and understanding, / The Spirit of counsel and might, / The Spirit of the knowledge and fear of Jehovah. 

In the Lord Jesus Christ's human living, as prophesied by Isaiah, He was filled with the Spirit of the fear of Jehovah. Today, He as the Life-giving Spirit is now in us. To live a life of fearing God, we must live in Christ who is the Spirit of the fear of Jehovah. For this, day by day, we need to completely and absolutely open to Him to be filled with Him as the Spirit of the fear of Jehovah.

In such a proper fear of God, we would be one with God in fulfilling God's economy. 

Lord, teach me to fear You, reverentially, all the days of my life.