Hello Friends,
What I am about to share is not comfortable for me, but that is the exact reason I am sharing it...
Some thoughts on what I am learning right now...a lot of this started during my prep with the Samuels,which I recently taught in the SBS, in studying I was able to see how many of the characters in that book have this same struggles as I do and how fear absolutely ruled the life of Saul, but in David we see just the opposite, he shows us how to live out this principle of trusting God…I have been learning what it means to Fear the Lord and to walk away from the Fear of Man, I know there is far more to learn about this in my life but what it has revealed to me is that the fear of man is that it's something which I am so easily ruled by, as I look back on life and even now recognize that I am so often holding back all of who I am or all of what God has placed in me because of it also finding that I often struggle with insecurity as well as many other ways I find I have been entangled by the fear of man which holds me back from living in the only thing that matters, trusting God.
I am often times held back by self-sufficiency this is huge in my life instead of reliance on God for the absolute best for me…I find being in control of my own life is something I often try to do more than letting Go and letting God.
Another thing is the fear of rejection rules me a lot of times, fearing what people think of me…letting others rule me with words instead of listening to God’s at times, when it comes to the fear of man these are just some things I am wrestling through.
I recently read a book called “When people are BIG and God is small”- by: Edward Welch, this book impacted me in a huge way, it’s all based on comparing the fear of man in our lives with the worth of the fear of the Lord; a quote that really impacted me was “The most radical treatment for the fear of man is the fear of the Lord. God must be bigger to you than people are. This antidote takes years to grasp; in fact, it will take all of our lives.”
In all of this I continued to ask the question of myself, “how am I to overcome (not master) the fear of man in my life?” … and that is by gaining a healthy fear of the Lord, and how do I do that? … by trusting him, that’s it, trusting this holy amazing God that loves me more than I will ever understand, that gave his Son for me, that is how, by trusting him and putting him first in EVERY area of my life.
Psalms 34:9 says “Fear the Lord, you his saints, for those who fear him have no lack!” This verse is what I am learning to live by, that by fearing and honoring, loving, trusting, believing his promises, clinging to him, and walking with him every second of every day, in that I lack NOTHING.
This is my challenge to us, that we would allow the fear of man, that so easily holds many of us back from giving God all that he deserves and from giving people in our lives a glimpse of how God truly made us to be, that we would let that die in ourselves, and to allow the fear of the Lord, trusting him, knowing him more, to grow in ways we never expected possible.
