Good Morning “God Fearing…”
Today we are in Job 31.
As Job continues to lament he describes many sins and repeats and calls down curses on himself from Isaiah. We know Job was not sinless - no one except Jesus ever was or is (Romans 3:23). But, imagine being humbled to the point that Job is humbled, and yet still feeling free from conviction.
I don’t know about you, but I stumble often and feel like pretty much every day The Holy Spirit is convicting me of something. Jobs blameless and upright life is something I envy. We know his strength came from his relationship with The Lord. We know God never left him, but there is something more here as well. We’ve seen it before. Job feared God! (Job 1:1, Job 1:9, Job 2:3)
“For I dreaded destruction from God, and for fear of his splendor I could not do such things.”
Job 31:23 NIV
In fact it was the source of Jobs wisdom - ours too. “And he said to the human race, “The fear of the Lord—that is wisdom, and to shun evil is understanding.””
Job 28:28 NIV
I know what you’re thinking… we all “fear”, stand in awe of God. The idea that fearing God is simply standing in awe of Him has resurfaced recently within the collective church, so let’s look at the word once more.
EVERY time we see the word fear in the Old Testament, it’s the same word. In fact this word appears more than 200 times in the Old Testament alone.
Original Word: יָרֵא
Part of Speech: Adjective
Transliteration: yare'
Pronunciation: yah-ray
Phonetic Spelling: (yaw-ray')
Definition: Fearful, reverent, afraid.
Yes reverent… but clearly afraid. In fact in Job 31:23 from today’s reading - the NASB and the ESV say Job was in “terror” of calamity from God.” This single verse demonstrates both true trembling fear, and the acknowledgment that God brings the calamity.
Why was Job so blameless? True fear of The Lord keeps us from sinning (Exodus 20:20, Proverbs 16:6). I know what you’re thinking… “That was before Jesus, after He came and took it all we no longer need to “fear” Him.” Ummm… we no longer need to fear spiritual death if we know Him (Matthew 7:21-23), but the word fear appears around 150 times in the New Testament as well - each time the same original word. This time the language is Greek. We’re told to “fear” nothing… but GOD.
Original Word: φοβέω
Part of Speech: Verb
Transliteration: phobeó
Pronunciation: fo-beh'-o
Phonetic Spelling: (fob-eh'-o)
Definition: To fear, be afraid, reverence
Meaning: I fear, dread, reverence, am afraid, terrified.
In fact in Luke 12:4-5 Jesus tells the Disciples NOT to “phobeo” the one who can only harm the body but “phobeo” the one who can cast you into hell.
What do we make of this? Fear of The Lord is beginning of wisdom. Wisdom says don’t sin because sin leads to consequences we don’t want. Jesus paid it all, His perfect love drives out fear (1 John 4:18). However; that doesn’t mean we no longer “fear” God… it means the fear of eternal damnation is gone if we KNOW Him. In fact Paul told us to “Continue to work out our salvation with “fear” and trembling”. Philippians 2:12
Simple translation… as we grow up in Jesus, be afraid, tremble… at our sin… not because our salvation is on the line, but because God expects different. (Romans 12:1)
Love you all! Dig in!
Today we are in Job 31.
As Job continues to lament he describes many sins and repeats and calls down curses on himself from Isaiah. We know Job was not sinless - no one except Jesus ever was or is (Romans 3:23). But, imagine being humbled to the point that Job is humbled, and yet still feeling free from conviction.
I don’t know about you, but I stumble often and feel like pretty much every day The Holy Spirit is convicting me of something. Jobs blameless and upright life is something I envy. We know his strength came from his relationship with The Lord. We know God never left him, but there is something more here as well. We’ve seen it before. Job feared God! (Job 1:1, Job 1:9, Job 2:3)
“For I dreaded destruction from God, and for fear of his splendor I could not do such things.”
Job 31:23 NIV
In fact it was the source of Jobs wisdom - ours too. “And he said to the human race, “The fear of the Lord—that is wisdom, and to shun evil is understanding.””
Job 28:28 NIV
I know what you’re thinking… we all “fear”, stand in awe of God. The idea that fearing God is simply standing in awe of Him has resurfaced recently within the collective church, so let’s look at the word once more.
EVERY time we see the word fear in the Old Testament, it’s the same word. In fact this word appears more than 200 times in the Old Testament alone.
Original Word: יָרֵא
Part of Speech: Adjective
Transliteration: yare'
Pronunciation: yah-ray
Phonetic Spelling: (yaw-ray')
Definition: Fearful, reverent, afraid.
Yes reverent… but clearly afraid. In fact in Job 31:23 from today’s reading - the NASB and the ESV say Job was in “terror” of calamity from God.” This single verse demonstrates both true trembling fear, and the acknowledgment that God brings the calamity.
Why was Job so blameless? True fear of The Lord keeps us from sinning (Exodus 20:20, Proverbs 16:6). I know what you’re thinking… “That was before Jesus, after He came and took it all we no longer need to “fear” Him.” Ummm… we no longer need to fear spiritual death if we know Him (Matthew 7:21-23), but the word fear appears around 150 times in the New Testament as well - each time the same original word. This time the language is Greek. We’re told to “fear” nothing… but GOD.
Original Word: φοβέω
Part of Speech: Verb
Transliteration: phobeó
Pronunciation: fo-beh'-o
Phonetic Spelling: (fob-eh'-o)
Definition: To fear, be afraid, reverence
Meaning: I fear, dread, reverence, am afraid, terrified.
In fact in Luke 12:4-5 Jesus tells the Disciples NOT to “phobeo” the one who can only harm the body but “phobeo” the one who can cast you into hell.
What do we make of this? Fear of The Lord is beginning of wisdom. Wisdom says don’t sin because sin leads to consequences we don’t want. Jesus paid it all, His perfect love drives out fear (1 John 4:18). However; that doesn’t mean we no longer “fear” God… it means the fear of eternal damnation is gone if we KNOW Him. In fact Paul told us to “Continue to work out our salvation with “fear” and trembling”. Philippians 2:12
Simple translation… as we grow up in Jesus, be afraid, tremble… at our sin… not because our salvation is on the line, but because God expects different. (Romans 12:1)
Love you all! Dig in!
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