Relevant Life

While in the military, I remember an up and coming inspection. It was a routine inspection of the barracks and dress uniforms. I remember frantically getting ready for the inspection. I wanted everything to be perfect, and I wanted to ensure our platoon shined. I had my dress uniformed spread out on my bunk mates bed. I just finished ironing half of my team’s pants. ( Apparently, I was the only one who knew how to use an iron). I had my shoe shining polish on the bed and I was shining my shoes. Everything was going great until I stood up. The motion caused my shoe polish to spill on the bottom left corner of my pants leg. I rushed to pick up the bottle of polish to only find that I was too late. I tried everything I could to get the ink spot out of my pants leg. I was able to make the spot look faint but it was still noticeable. My back up pants were not hemmed yet, so I was up the creek without a paddle. I almost went into panic mode and decided to simply face the consequences.

I had a healthy amount of fear twitching in my belly for the visit from the Colonel and his Lieutenants . Was I going to cause the platoon to fail? Was the Colonel going to call me out? Was I going to fail the Colonel and the whole team? I remember when the staff sergeant called for everyone to stand to attention. The Colonel and his team began their inspection. One by one they inspected each solider, their bunks and their closets. The Colonel came to me. He inspected me up and down. He gave me compliments on my attire and bunk. My stomach was tied in knots and I felt like I was about to lose my lunch from earlier. As he walked to the next solider; I began to breathe again until…… He goes to the next solider but suddenly stops. He takes a step back and looks at the bottom of my pants. His keen eye discovered my earlier mistake. My stomach fell to my ankles. The Colonel asks me what the faint black mark was. I had to tell him what happened. He commanded that I get it fixed immediately after the inspection. He gave me a simple smirk and moved on down the line. We passed inspection and all was good in the world.

My fear was two -fold. One was fear of failure and letting the team down. The other fear was due to reverence to the Colonel and his Lieutenants. The Military is big on ranks and ensuring we give reverence to those ranks. It creates a healthy fear and respect for those who were higher in command.

The Fear of the Lord is similar. Fearing God is two fold. He can just by one thought remove us from existence and reverence that we should give because He is the one true God.

Joshua , son of Nun, presented this message to the Israelites as they crossed over to the Promise land and obtained the promise from the Lord.

e-Sword

Jos 24:14  “Fear the LORD, and serve him with integrity and faithfulness. Get rid of the gods your ancestors served on the other side of the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve only the LORD.

Jos 24:15 But if you don’t want to serve the LORD, then choose today whom you will serve. Even if you choose the gods your ancestors served on the other side of the Euphrates or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you live, my family and I will still serve the LORD.”

Joshua gave the people of Israel a choice. Either server and fear the Lord or not. There was no in between. Joshua made it clear that he was going to Fear the Lord and serve Him until his death.

Fearing God is simply reverencing the one and true God. It is a choice and those who chose the gods of the this world will have their reward. Choices always have consequences good or bad. God does not want us to fear Him with blind devotion. He gives all of mankind a choice. Giving us the Messiah was a choice and a choice for us to follow him.

Many believers love God from a distance but never have true devotion to Him because they don’t fear him. Fear caused me to do everything I could to remove the spot from my dress pants. Ultimately the Colonel discovered my spot but chose to show me empathy. He could tell I was nervous and afraid. A part of me believes that the Colonel saw my devotion and willingness to do the right thing.

Fearing God is similar to my story. We fear God and his continual empathy , forgiveness, and love keeps rushing over us. He forgives the spots over our lives and removes them. It does not mean that we keep sinning. Fearing God causes the opposite effect. Fearing the Lord strengthens us to not sin against our God. It puts us in place of overcoming our weaknesses. If you want to overcome the failures in your life make sure your love for God is partnered with the Fear of the Lord.