Blessed is everyone who fears the LORD,
Psalms 128:1 (ESV)
who walks in his ways!
Yahweh will bless our lives if we fear him and walk in his way. What does it mean to fear him? It does not mean that we adopt the attitude that he is generally angry with us or is seeking to hurt us. Perhaps we can define healthy fear of God with three attitudes:
- Awareness of his justice. He will repay everyone according to their actions (2 Cor. 5:10 and many other passages). Thus, it is healthy to fear his justice if we are destructive and do not repent.
- Awe. We recognize that he infinitely transcends us. We only have microscopic power and wisdom compared to him.
- Reverence. If we seek to be with God, then the logical sequel to awe is reverence. We exalt him in our hearts. We acknowledge him as our God; we install him as our holy and absolute leader.
The natural fruit of the healthy fear of God is to walk in his ways. Why wouldn’t we walk in his ways, since he is all-powerful and all-loving? Most of you who read this are walking in his ways, because you know who he is and you have a healthy fear of God.
Which leads to the encouragement. You are blessed and you will be blessed for eternity. Let us not forget that no matter what is happening in our lives, if we are walking in God’s ways as Jesus taught us, then we are blessed. Do you think of yourself as blessed? Do you let the troubles of your life create an attitude that your life is primarily one of deprivation or difficulty? We might have these things, but the greater truth is that we are blessed. God has “blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 1:3, ESV). Take a few seconds and remind yourself that you are blessed, and train yourself to keep this in your mind daily.
