Devotional for September 18

The Fear of the Lord Is To Walk In Divine Wisdom

10 The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing.
11 Come, ye children, hearken unto me: I will teach you the fear of the Lord.
12 What man is he that desireth life, and loveth many days, that he may see good?
13 Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaKing guile.
14 Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it. Psalm 34:10-14 (KJV)

The Morning Exhortation

Be glad when the day comes when you don’t feel like going to the gym. You’ve reached a milestone. It happens to all of us who have made a commitment to improve our health and fitness. Such a commitment must be tested. Passing the “I don’t feel like it today” test is a big part of what separates those who reach their goals from those who don’t. Christian faith must likewise be tested. The testing of faith takes the spiritual substance of things hoped for and allows them to be manifested into the physical world. Trials, temptations, and testing are various types of weight training for building faith. The assurance that what is hoped for is granted comes only after faith has been exercised with resistance. Knowing that God is more willing to give us all that He has promised is the essential understanding necessary to receive the assurance of faith. God is far more willing to bless us with all things according to His will than we are oftentimes willing to receive it. For this reason, the Bible tells us to consider it all joy when our faith is tested. The true fight with the devil consists in the exercise of faith. Consider thoughts, imaginations, and doubts as the spiritual equivalents  of barbells, plates, and weights that provide the resistance to strengthen the inner man for every good work.

Question

Why the fear of the Lord?

Answer

The fear of the Lord is the highest level of understanding (Scripture). A total lack of awareness and understanding is ignorance (Scripture). Understanding based off of little knowledge or error is the fear of the unknown (Scripture), but the fear of the Lord is an understanding of the one and only eternal fixed point, which is God (Scripture). With the fear of the Lord, everything that is incompatible with God becomes repulsive (Scripture). The fear of the Lord works as an early warning system by causing a dissonance in the soul that turns us away from all that would grieve the Holy Spirit (Scripture). 

The Prayer Appointed for This Week from the Book of Common Prayer

O God, because without you we are not able to please you, mercifully grant that your Holy Spirit may in all things direct and rule my heart; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.