How To Fear God

Only fear the LORD, and serve Him in truth with all your heart; for consider what great things He has done for you.

1 Samuel 12:24

In July 1861, in an act declaring September 26 as a National Day of Prayer and Fasting, Abraham Lincoln wrote, “It is fit and becoming in all people, at all times, to acknowledge and revere the Supreme Government of God; to bow in humble submission to his chastisement; to confess and deplore their sins and transgressions in the full conviction that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. . . .”

That may be one of the best summaries ever penned of what it means to “fear the Lord.” Note the action words: “to acknowledge . . . revere . . . bow . . . confess and deplore.” To fear the Lord means more than just one thing. Indeed, it is a phrase that gathers together a number of attitudes and actions. In short, when we fear the Lord, we recognize God’s proper place as Creator over us, His creation. If someone followed us around for a week, what evidence would they see that we fear the Lord? Which would they hear most—grumbles or gratitude, complaints or compassion?

A nation that fears the Lord is one whose citizens fear the Lord. Plan a “Personal Day of Prayer and Fasting” soon—a day to reaffirm your own fear of the Lord.