When Jesus was asked what the most important command in the law was, He said it was to love God with all your heart, soul, and mind. But there’s a command that Is repeated almost as often throughout the Old Testament that we tend to gloss over: Fear God.
That’s why the midwives in Exodus saved the life of Moses: they feared God. That’s not a bad thing! Most of the time fear is. Most of the time fear traps us, enslaves us. But this is the one kind of fear that can actually free us! Fear of God freed the midwives of their fear of pharaoh. It put their priorities in the right order, because while pharaoh was powerful, his power was nothing near the power of God.
Fearing God is a recognition that He is the absolute authority. God deserves our fear, our awe, because unlike pharaoh or any other king, ruler, anything we might fear, unlike all those things God Is all powerful. Fear God and keep His commands. That fear doesn’t trap us, it frees us.
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