Scripture: ‘The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, turning a person from the snares of death.’ – Proverbs 14:27, NIV
A few weeks ago I received an SMS from a friend saying something like ‘Please pray, I’m feeling very much under attack at the moment’. As I pondered on the words ‘under attack’, I was reminded of so many other occasions when I had received similar messages with the same phrase. Perhaps you know the feeling? Maybe you’re even feeling ‘under attack’ right now.
I don’t know about you, but when I think of this phrase I visualise a person crouched down, trying to protect their head with their hands while bullets fly past them, all the while screaming “I’m under attack! Help! Help! I’m under attack!”. Spiritually, that seems to be how people feel as they start praying and quickly send out messages asking others to pray for them.
As soon as I received the message I said a quick prayer for my friend, but then I had to ask myself some questions… Is it ok for a Christian to be ‘under attack’? Is it God’s will? Is there anything we can do to stop it happening? Is desperate prayer the only thing that works in that situation? And what about the times when desperate prayer doesn’t seem to work?!
You see, ‘under attack’ was not a phrase I had ever used to describe myself since becoming a Christian. It made me wonder, why have I never felt ‘under attack?’. Why are there no examples of believers in the New Testament describing themselves as being ‘under attack’ in the helpless kind of way that we hear Christians using the phrase today?
A day or two after receiving the SMS, I was reading Proverbs and I came across the most incredible verse. It says ‘The fear of the Lord leads to life; then one rests content, untouched by trouble’ (Proverbs 19:23). I thought to myself, “wow! Is it even possible to live untouched by trouble?”. I was so taken aback by these words that I had to check another version. Here’s the same verse in the King James Version ‘The fear of the Lord tendeth to life: and he that hath it shall abide satisfied; he shall not be visited with evil.’
I was instantly reminded of the fact that one of the first books I read as a new believer (aged 17) was ‘The Fear of the Lord’ by John Bevere. I remember being utterly amazed by the absolutely incredible promises that God makes in His Word to those who fear Him. Since then, I have sought with all my heart to understand and to live my life in the fear of the Lord. Does that mean I’ve never been through hard times? No. But in those hard times, God’s desire is that I would be an overcomer. I believe that His desire for you is the same, and the fear of the Lord is one of the most significant keys you will need along the way.
What is the fear of the Lord? Well, we haven’t got time to go into that in any depth now so I wholeheartedly recommend you read the book for yourself. Very quickly though, the fear of the Lord is a fountain of life (Proverbs 14:27), it’s the beginning of knowledge and wisdom (Proverbs 1:7 & Proverbs 9:10), it keeps us from sinning (Exodus 20:20 & Proverbs 16:6) and it brings health to our body (Proverbs 3:7-8). Those who fear God lack nothing (Psalm 34:9) and God shares His secrets with them (Psalm 25:14).
If you spend the next year learning how to live in the fear of the Lord, your Christian life could become a totally different experience!
Prayer: Father, I want to thank you today that there is a way we can live our lives that will allow us to be ‘untouched by trouble’ and ‘not visited with evil’. I’m sorry for the times that I have not lived in the fear of the Lord. I’m sorry for the times when my opinion has been more important to me than what your Word says, and I’m sorry for the times that I’ve invited trouble into my life by the way I’ve lived. Please teach me what it means to live in the fear of the Lord. I want to drink from the fountain of life and have a deeper level of intimacy with you than I have ever known before. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Source: Seeds of the Kingdom