SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/11/2021 10:12 AM
My Worship Time Focus: “Fear”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matt. 9:8
Message of the
verse: “But
when the crowds saw this, they were awestruck, and glorified God, who
had given such authority to men.”
We have been talking about how the
scribes and the Pharisees were thinking about what Jesus had said, but there
was a great deal of difference in the actions of the crowd when they saw what
had been done by Jesus to this man.
First of all they knew that this kind of miracle could have only been
done by God, and second, just like we have seen in the last miracles that Jesus
had done there was great fear. MacArthur
writes Phobeo (filled with awe) is
the term from which we get phobia and
is often translated ‘fear.’ But the most
common use of it in the New Testament represents reverential awe, not cringing
fright. It expresses the feeling of a
person who is in the presence of someone infinitely superior.
“Phobeo
is used to describe the reaction of the disciples when they saw Jesus walking
on the water (Matt. 14:26) and to describe the reactions of the people after
the raising of the widow’s son at Nain (Luke 7:16) and after the healing of the
demoniacs at Gerasa (Luke 8:37). It is
used to describe Zacharias’s response to the appearance of the angel (Luke
1:12) and the spectators’ response when he regained his speech (v. 65). It is used of the shepherds when they heard
the angels sing (Luke 2:9), of the guards at the garden tomb when the angels
rolled the stone away (Matt. 28:2-4), and of the women after they visited the
empty tomb (v. 8). It is used to
describe the feelings of the people who witnessed the signs and wonders of
Pentecost (Acts 2:43) and of men in the midst of shattering events of the last
days (Luke 21:26). It is used of the
response of the people to the deaths of Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:5, 11) and
to the demons overpowering the unbelieving sons of Sceva who tried to cast the
demons out in Jesus’ name (19:16-17).”
In conclusion to these last two
paragraphs from MacArthur’s commentary we can say that in the Synoptic Gospels
and also in the book of Acts this term is never used to speak of anything other
than the feeling in a person’s heart when he or she is confronted with
supernatural power, and it is declared to be a part of the Christian’s attitude
as he seeks to faithfully serve the Lord as seen in Acts 9:31 “So the church
throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria enjoyed peace, being built up; and
going on in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it
continued to increase.”
When
we think of reverential awe of God we must realize that is a part of the truly
repentant life and we can see this in 2 Cor. 7:10-11 “10 For the sorrow that is
according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading
to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death. 11 For behold what
earnestness this very thing, this godly sorrow, has produced in you: what
vindication of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what avenging
of wrong! In everything you demonstrated yourselves to be innocent in the
matter.” It also shows a chaste life as
seen in 1 Peter 3:2 “as they observe your chaste and respectful behavior.” Next a holy life as seen in 2 Cor. 7:1 “Therefore,
having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of
flesh and spirit, perfecting
holiness in the fear of God.” One
more and that is a godly life as seen in Phil. 2:12 “So then, my beloved, just
as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my
absence, work out your
salvation with fear and trembling.”
MacArthur writes “Mutual ministry, love, and respect, as well as
powerful evangelism and proper church discipline, are all grounded in
reverential awe of the Lord (see 2 Cor. 5:11; Eph. 5:21; 1 Tim. 5:20). It is the substance out of which all right
Christian worship, behavior, and service must come.”
Once
again we can talk about the response of the crowd and their response to the
miracle of what Jesus had done, and that was that they realized that they were
in the presence of a Man who was empowered by God.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I am thankful for the wonderful reminder of
having awe for God and how it should be a bigger part of my life and worship of
the Lord. I have mentioned that a couple
of months ago that I began to fast on Wednesdays in order to overcome a habit
that had overwhelmed me since I was a child.
When I became a believer the Lord miraculously cleaned up my speaking,
and there was another thing that I certainly desired to have Him clean up
too. Well I can say that it has been a
struggle off and on of the 47 years that I have been a believer, but once I
read a book about how fasting can help in different areas of your life and began
to fast and pray about this sinful habit then God has removed it from me. I can’t say that I don’t have temptations,
just like at times when my thoughts about swearing are in my mind, but what I
can say is that I certainly was in awe of God’s power to take care of this
problem, for which I am so thankful.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Trust the Lord to continue to give me victory
over tempetations.
5/11/2021 10:49 AM
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