Taking God Seriously
"Every time anyone in the Bible of any significance met God, great fear, awe, and trembling came upon them. We talk about standing in the presence of a Holy God, yet our response to Him is unlike anyone who stood before Him in the Scriptures. We must ask ourselves if we are confronting God in such a way that a holy sense of trembling comes over us. How can Christians proclaim a message of urgency while living a lifestyle of complacency? People will believe the message when it is delivered by a messenger whose life demonstrates that he knows God and takes God seriously.” - Henry Blackaby from the book, The Man God Uses
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction. (Proverbs 1:7 ESV)
Do you not fear me? declares the Lord. Do you not tremble before me? I placed the sand as the boundary for the sea, a perpetual barrier that it cannot pass; though the waves toss, they cannot prevail; though they roar, they cannot pass over it. But this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart; they have turned aside and gone away. They do not say in their hearts, "Let us fear the Lord our God, who gives the rain in its season, the autumn rain and the spring rain, and keeps for us the weeks appointed for the harvest." Your iniquities have turned these away, and your sins have kept good from you. (Jeremiah 5:22-25 ESV)
“The presence of God in His people put fear in the nations surrounding them. The nations were not afraid of the Israelites. They were afraid of the God of the Israelites. How many people tremble before the God that churches serve in their communities? The fear of God will not come upon the people outside the church before it comes upon the people inside the church." - Henry Blackaby from the book, The Man God Uses
