I find that whenever God picks out a person or group
in the bible and compliments them. Usually that person or group has a lot to
teach me. I was reading Malachi yesterday and I have been struck by the
covenant God made with the tribe of Levi. He says, “My covenant with him was
one of life and peace, and I gave them to him. It was a covenant of fear, and
he feared me. He stood in awe of my name. True instructions was in his mouth
and no wrong was found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness
and he turned many from iniquity.” Malachi 2:5-6
God identifies two
things which He gave in the covenant. They were life and peace.
What is life? Life is found in Christ. He is the way
the truth and the life. He came that we might have life and have it abundantly.
(John 10:10) This life is in contrast to death and Christians have been called
from death into life. The nature of our life in Christ is love. (1 John 3:14)
It is another seeming paradox of Christianity that ought of a covenant based on
awe of God comes a love for Him and for our neighbor.
Ezekiel
18:23. Have I any
pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares
the Lord God and not rather that he should turn from his wicked way and
live?” God is not referring to the life or death of our bodies. It is the
wickedness of the wicked that makes them dead even while their bodies yet
breath and it is in turning from wickedness that brings life whether a person
is physically healthy or living in a bed and eating through a tube.
First life and from life comes peace. Peace is not a static condition
absent of movement. Peace is harmony, it is the state of existence in which
everything knows where it ought to be. One of the most beautiful aspects of God’s
creation is that He created things to be a particular way. He made water out of
particular chemical compounds to function in a particular way. Imagine a river
running smoothly through a glade. The sun is shining as a sun ought to do. The
water is running as water ought to do. Birds are chirping and eating and flying
as birds ought to do. Fish are jumping and swimming and eating as fish ought to
do. Plants are planting as plants ought to do. Everything follows its course and
fulfills its destiny. Most importantly everything is alive, everything is
moving, everything is pursuing growth. Its this mindset that produces peace.
How shall we have peace? Psalm 119:165: “Great peace have they who love your law,
and nothing can make them stumble.”
God is a
God of order, harmony and structure.
God made the world
to be a world in harmony with Himself and itself.
God created
laws so that the world can function in harmony with Himself and itself.
When
creatures disobey the laws God has made they destroy harmony within the world
and between the world and God.
Therefore,
if humans want to experience peace and harmony with God and with the world
around them they must follow the laws He has created.
This is why God calls His law the “law of liberty” (James 1:25) It’s not
a law that binds us down and limits us. Following the law of God gives us the
greatest possible freedom. His law commands us not to shackle ourselves to
desire, to passion, to a false reality. His law commands us to embrace what is
really there and enjoy things as they were created to be enjoyed.
God identifies two things which those humans gave to
Him that is fear. Fear in the context of awe not terror. Just like most humans
don’t understand most things that God talks about we need to look at fear
through the filter of scripture not through the filter of our own experience.
God says, “The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom.” (Proverbs 1:7) As I’m
writing this and I hope as you’re reading this the realization should be
growing that everything fits together. Life is not meant to be lived like a
cake is baked following a clearly defined recipe. Most things in life are
connected to each other. God is everywhere and involved in most everything and
fearing Him is just one small part of what it means to live in peace. Fearing
God is about having the correct perspective of Him. God is so vast and has so
many attributes it’s easy to get lost in an idea and miss His primary
characteristics. Hear the words of Isaiah concerning our God.
“Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His
hand and marked off the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth in
a measure and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance? Who
has measured the Spirit of the Lord, or what man shows him his counsel? Who did
He consul and who made Him understand? Who taught Him the path of justice, and
taught Him knowledge, and who showed Him the way of understanding? Behold, the
nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are accounted as the dust on the
scales; behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine dust. Lebanon would not
suffice for fuel, nor are its beasts enough for a burnt offering. All nations
are as nothing before him, they are accounted by him as less than nothing and
emptiness. Isaiah 40:12-17
Fearing God means having an attitude which remembers
who God is and who we are. It means remembering that to God I am less than
necessary. Bernard of Clairvaux illustrates proper fear of God. He says, “It’s
difficult to fall when you’re bowed before God” Here is holy fear, here is
divine reverence. It’s a state of mind that is forever offering obeisance to
God almighty which allows for God’s covenant to be fulfilled. It’s fear of God
that provides truth, and wisdom. It allows for peace and uprightness and life
devoid of iniquity.
Pride is not a new social disease. It has been and
probably will continue to be the most paramount character flaw that keeps
people from fearing God. We do not fear God because we think highly of
ourselves. Deep down we believe that we deserve to be saved. Somehow the fact
that we are God’s creation means He ought to look ought for us and save us.
This belief in our own merit is evidenced by our anger when things don’t go our
way. If we really believed that we are servants of God created to do His will
and that He is master, creator fully entitled to do exactly as He pleases we
would not be angry when things don’t go as we planned.
In our culture of tolerance, of mutual understanding,
of trying not to disagree we must humble ourselves in fear of God. We can never afford to sit back and allow ourselves to receive complacently the gifts
of God without kneeling before the throne of God acknowledging out complete unworthiness of even His notice let alone His grace.
Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.
Cleanse your hands you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be
wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your
joy to gloom. Humble yourself before the Lord, and He will exalt you.
