God's Perfect Timing

 "Timing is everything." It's an old adage, and certainly guilty of overstatement. Yet, the Bible affirms the benefit of timing things well. For instance, Solomon reminds us that "A person finds joy in giving an apt reply - and how good is a timely word!," (Proverbs 15:23). Think of how good, "Will you marry me?" fits when it is spoken to the right person at the right time.

As good as humans can be at saying or doing the right thing at the right time, God is infinitely better. While God is not limited by time or space, He is by no means unfamiliar with the concept of time. He invented time, and the progression of moments serves Him and His purposes.

What is the Fear of the Lord?

If I were to simply ask, “What is fear?” most of us would not have an issue answering that question. Fear is that emotion I feel when I’m scared of danger, or a problem bearing down on me. It could be a real danger: perhaps a snake has slithered across my foot; or it could be a perceived danger: perhaps the snake is a harmless black racer and is very unlikely to even bite me. So, a swamp filled with mosquitoes biting me is a fear of real danger. A sign telling me there are a lot of mosquitoes who may bite me is a perceived danger (thanks Congaree National Forest for the warning!).

Further, if I were to ask who is the Lord, few Christians would stumble to find the answer. The Lord is God, the One and Only. The Lord is the Almighty Creator, the incarnate Savior, the Comforting Spirit: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in One Godhead. He is the Lord.

But, if we put both fear and the Lord into a phrase and ask its definition, many do stumble. What is the fear of the Lord? As I have briefly researched, the modern consensus seems to be a brief or prolonged journey that arrives at similar conclusions. Fear of the Lord is not fear, but something like awe, respect, worship, and love. Now, because of Jesus, praise the Lord, I do think we worship God with reverence and awe, and I do think we love God because He first loved us in Jesus Christ. But, if “the fear of the Lord” should be translated “the awe of the Lord” or “the love of the Lord,” then Bible translators have done a consistently lousy job translating the words into fear.

On the basis of linguistics, biblical theology, and logic, I’m going to argue that the fear of the Lord means fearing the Lord as in a settled emotional trembling at His Person and Presence. This fear, because of Jesus, need not remain the only emotion we habitually experience. Instead, when we come to God by faith in Jesus, and are adopted into God’s family, we combine fear and love. We fear-love God. It’s what Augustine will call a filial fear. We do not graduate from or leave fear behind, discarding any fear we experience in God’s holy presence, but we couple that fear with hope and love in Jesus. The by-product of this fear-love is habitual right-walking with God, right-worship of God, and enduring happiness.

Fear of the LORD

 Fear of the LORD, a Study on Fear from Genesis 42

There are many things that scare us. Human beings have all varieties of fears. Some are quite silly.

As a kid, I watched Arachnophobia, the movie about the fear of spiders. Still makes me jump thinking about them sneaking onto me when I am sleeping or dropping onto my hand when I turn out the light.

Maybe you have acrophobia, the fear of heights. Someone might say they don’t mind the heights, it’s the falling and hitting the ground that scares them.

Others it’s aerophobia, aquaphobia, or astraphobia, but flying, water, and storms don’t sum up everyone’s fears.

WHAT IS SOMETHING YOU WERE AFRAID OF AS A KID?

In Genesis 42, we dive into the middle of the epic of Joseph. So far, Joseph has been sold into slavery by his jealous brothers, and his father Jacob believes him dead because his sons deceived him. While Judah shipwrecked his life, Joseph was purchased by a wealthy Egyptian, the captain of the guards. He endured slavery and then wrongful accusation and imprisonment. Then, Joseph was brought out of prison into the very presence of Pharaoh, where he interpreted dreams and planned how to save Egypt from disaster. Pharaoh promoted Joseph to second-in-command, and Joseph helped Egypt prepare for the famine by storing up grain during the years of great harvests. Now, the famine has come, and today the brothers will come to Joseph. We will see the family’s many fears.

Redeeming the Food Pantry

At Redemption Church in Jacksonville, FL, where I currently serve as pastor, for several years we had a partnership with a local food pantry that supplied groceries to those in need. This organization excelled at efficiently providing quality food. At least 100 families would monthly receive a lot of quality, fresh produce. However, from an eternal perspective, there was little produced. People receiving food stayed in their cars. They were often warmly greeted, but there was very little interaction. The goal was to put groceries into a trunk, not to get to know people or point them to Jesus. When I came on as pastor, one of the things I wanted to do was to redeem the food pantry. I had two goals: evangelism & discipleship.

Striving for a Legacy: Farewell Sermon from Thomas Brooks

Thomas Brooks as a puritan preacher and a Navy chaplain in the 1600s, serving in London, England for many years. Many of his works are available online for free or very inexpensive. An excellent collection is available here: Thomas Brooks.

In his farewell sermon, he purposed to leave his congregation with a charge to pursue lasting, godly legacies. That is, individually and corporately, what commitments will leave a lasting impact. Interestingly, a legacy can also be defined as an amount of money or property left to someone in a will (Oxford Languages, "Legacy"). This Puritan Pastor left spiritual property to help his congregation make a lasting impact before they departed from this world.

What follows are the 27 legacies from Thomas Brooks, preached in 1662. They can be found the "The Complete Works of Thomas Brooks." The italicized words are my own brief commentary.

7 Questions About the Birth of Jesus

Imagine for a moment that you were present the night that Jesus was born. Perhaps you were a shepherd or a resident of Bethlehem who heard the baby crying in the night. What do you think you would’ve thought about the significance of that night? Why was Jesus born?

One of the most unique aspects of Christmas is that Jesus came and was uniquely born to save the world. The uniqueness of His birth is both mysterious and necessary for our salvation. Tonight, we dive deeper to understand why Jesus had to be born just the way He was.

Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices

In 1652, Puritan Pastor Thomas Brooks published a wonderful help to Christians striving by God's grace to put sin to death. His work was called Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices. It has been treasured by sin-fighting Christians for centuries. In it, he candidly and pastorally helps Christians see the strategies Satan often uses to tempt or lure us into sin. Paul warned the Ephesian Christians, "Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil," (Ephesians 6:11, ESV). The schemes are the devices Satan uses against Christians. Brooks' work aimed to expose those devices and provide remedies or helpful combat strategies against them.