Fear of the Lord

I am in the middle of reading Edward T. Welch's book, "When People are Big and God is Small: Overcoming Peer Pressure, Codependency, and the Fear of Man."  In Chapter 7, which is called, "Grow in the Lord,"  brings us to the prophet Isaiah.  Welch writes,

" While Job's class in the fear of the Lord was not specifically targeted to the fear of other people, God's instruction to the prophet Isaiah certainly was.  When Isaiah was called by God, he was given a message that guaranteed he would be rejected and physically threatened by others (Isaiah 6:9-14).  There were going to be daily opportunities for him to fear man rather than God.  As a result, it was essential for him to have the fear of the Lord absolutely branded into his heart, because the person who fears God fears nothing else."

Welch takes us to Isaiah 6: 1-8

"In the year of King Uzziah's death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted,

with the train of His robe filling the temple.  Seraphim stood above him, each having

six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet,

and with two he flew.  And one called out to another and said,

'Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of hosts,

The whole earth is full of His glory.'

And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him

who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke, Then I said,

"Woe is me, for I am ruined!

Because I am a man of unclean lips,

And I live among a people of unclean lips;

For my eyes have seen the King the Lord of hosts.'

Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal in his hand, which he had taken

from the altar with tongs.  He touched my mouth with it and said, 'Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away and your sin is forgiven.'

Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, 'Whom shall I send, and who will go

for Us?' Then I said, 'Here am I.  Send me! He said , 'Go, and tell this people."

Welch continues by saying,

"Then Isaiah did what anybody would do in such a situation.  He forgot about himself and offered

himself as a servant to the living God.  His fear of the Lord expressed by reverential obedience.

This is one of the great blessings of the fear of the Lord.  We think less often about ourselves.

When a heart is being filled with the greatness of God, there is less room for the question,

"What are people going to think of me?"...........

If you have been in the presence of the almighty God, everything that once controlled

both have less power."

Welch ends this section by saying,

"Such awe attracts you to God; it does not repel or leave you feeling shame.  It makes you want to come to him and know him.  When the fear of the Lord matures in you,  Christ becomes irresistible."

I don't know about you but I want to be a fearless person for Christ like Isaiah.  I have said and will continue to say to my King like I told Him back in June 2008, "Here am I.  Send me!"