The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
"Fear And Faith"
Fear and faith pave our path to relationship and fellowship with God.
"The blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords, who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto" (I Timothy 6:15-15).
"Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God" (Romans 5:1-2).
Our Lord alone exists as the great "I AM" from which things derive their being. "All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made" (Exodus 3:14; John 1:3). An infinite chasm exists between the Creator and the creation regarding being and nature, a reality we must plant deeply within our hearts and minds in order to relate rightly to Him. The prophet discovered such glory and responded in the only appropriate manner: "In the year that king Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and His train filled the temple… Then said I, Woe is me! For I am undone!" (Isaiah 6:1; 5).
And yet… and yet another glory of God proclaims to our hearts and minds that we can approach the Unapproachable. He ever beckons us to come to Him by the way He made through the Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.
"Draw nigh to God and He will draw nigh to you" (James 4:8).
"For through Him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father" (Ephesians 2:18).
The Lord Jesus and the indwelling Spirit of God make possible our approach and access to the Father who, by all rights and righteousness, should seem ever unapproachable and inaccessible. The Father desires us to come according to "the riches of His grace" (Ephesians 2:7). The fearful purity of His holiness, however, would completely bar nearness were it not for the atoning work of the Lord Jesus on our behalf. "I am the way… no man cometh unto the Father but by Me" (John 14:6). Moreover, we require supernatural enabling in order to relate to a Being far beyond our human capacities for relationship and communion. "Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God, that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God" (I Corinthians 2:12). The Father's gifts of His Son and the Holy Spirit make possible the impossible, calling human hearts to draw nigh in overwhelmed awe, but also in confident and joyful hope.
Both sensibilities must abide in our hearts and minds. Fear of God and faith in Him, while seemingly discordant companions, actually walk hand in hand and heart in heart regarding a true knowledge of our Lord. To believers, the Lord Jesus declared, "Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest… I am meek and lowly in heart" (Matthew 11:28; 30). To believers, the writer of Hebrews also declared, "The Lord shall judge His people… It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God" (Hebrews 10:30-31). Indeed, the same John who once laid his head on the chest of the Lord Jesus, fell at His feet as dead when seeing the Savior in His risen glory (John 13:25; Revelation 1:17).
The longer and better we know our God, the more a proper fear will accompany our approach to Him. A sublime faith will also fill our hearts for the wondrous gifts of our Father's heart. The Son and the Spirit make possible our drawing nigh to One who should seem far beyond any hope of a place in His presence. Both awed wonder and joyous confidence escort us to the throne of grace, where we find an infinitely glorious God by whom we are "undone," but who blessedly greets us as the graciously loving Father by whom we are redeemed and received as "dear children" (Ephesians 5:1) .
"For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we draw nigh unto God."
(Hebrews 7:19)
"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom… knowledge."
(Psalm 110:10; Proverbs 1:7)
Weekly Memory Verse
Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God, that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
(I Corinthians 2:12)
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