Isaiah 11:1-3a (NKJV)
There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse,
And a Branch shall grow out of his roots.
The Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon Him,
The Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
The Spirit of counsel and might,
The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD.
His delight is in the fear of the LORD,In our relieved and hope-filled embrace of Father God's love for us, what are we to make of "the fear of the LORD"? Many people I know believe it has to do with awe and reverence towards God.
What does awe and reverence towards God mean to you?
For some of us, it means we desire to go deeper into the reality Jesus is our King. So, as we feel moved by Holy Spirit or when it simply seems right, we're posturing ourselves to honor Him literally by kneeling and even lying facedown before Him. We seek to do this in our hearts as well.
For some of us, the beauty and wildness of creation are invitations to enter into the awe, wonder, and reverence of God.
What if the Spirit of the fear of the LORD started affecting how we live our regular lives? Many years ago a good friend named Mark married Carrie. They both loved each other, but they were needing to adjust to each other and learn more about what marriage actually means. One day, Father God started "talking" with Mark while he was taking a shower. Mark had this strong impression Father God wasn't happy about some of the ways Mark was treating Carrie, His beloved daughter. From that moment on, Mark started seeing Carrie as not only his wife, but Father God's beloved daughter. And Mark knew Father God was watching how he cared for Carrie. To me, this is a beautiful example the Spirit of the fear of the LORD making a deep and life-giving impression upon a young married man.
A few weeks ago I was looking at videos of beautiful water springs in Florida. Large amounts of water flow from these springs and feed significant rivers in Florida. They are remarkably clear and host wildlife like fishes and turtles. People are drawn to visit these springs and they've become very popular.
Here is a brief underwater video of Ginnie Springs. My favorite part is a bit after the 2 minute mark.
I learned a bit later that sometimes crowds of people come to Ginnie Springs to drink, "party", and leave a lot of trash around. I felt deeply grieved. Suddenly, I found myself wishing these heedless, trashing people would allow their hearts to reverence the beauty and glory in this aspect of God's creation. And it hit me; their attitude and behavior would change if the Spirit of the fear of the LORD fell upon them. And I started to see more of the blessing and importance of what the Spirit of the fear of the LORD could bring.
I suggest to you that if the Spirit of the fear of the Lord fell upon our society things would change in dramatic ways -- at least for a time. How people who are poor, sick, wounded, weak, and imprisoned are treated -- would change. How women are treated by many men would change. How many children are treated would change. The amount of gossiping, lying, cheating, stealing, lusting, slandering, bearing false witness, hatred, and even murder would decrease significantly!
Proverbs 9:10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
Proverbs 15:33 The fear of the LORD is the instruction for wisdom, And before honor comes humility.
Proverbs 1:7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; Fools despise wisdom and instruction.
Note: the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge. It's a good start. It is a like a guardrail or a tutor. The Apostle Paul called the Torah (the Law) a tutor in his Letter to the Galatians:
Galatians 3:23-29 NKJV
"But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.
For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise."
When we trust in Jesus as our Savior, and King we live beyond simply relying on the righteous and clean fear the LORD to warn us when we're about to do something destructive and dishonoring to God's heart and to His creation. Now we're empowered to receive the Spirit of adoption, the Spirit of Sonship; able to be loving, life-giving, joyful, creative, honoring - becoming more and more like our Dad.
It's one thing to be warned with the emotion of fear that we're about to run off the edge of a cliff. It's another to have the Spirit of Life empowering us to truly live.
Yet, even when the Spirit of Sonship is fully dwelling and acting within us, the Spirit of the fear of the LORD will still influence us. This will always be aspect of the Holy Spirit's work. Awe, reverence, wonder -- and growing in our capacity to honor and obey King Jesus is a precious gift.
Paul Cain recently shared a brief prophetic word about a greater manifestation of the Spirit of the fear of the LORD coming soon. You can read it by clicking below.
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