Learning the ways of God requires the full mental capacity of any person that has a desire to reach excellence in human endeavors. One of the key elements for understanding God’s ways is this: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom”. There is an element of this Scripture which many times goes overlooked. It actually takes some intimacy with God to even be aware of it ~ Absolutely no fear, intimidation, or coercion is present in the actual voice of God.
This aspect of my relationship with God Himself became very important to me this week. I am familiar with the Scripture that says, “you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things.” This Scripture reveals an honest characteristic of God’s ways that are completely different than our ways. Usually we judge people by their major faults, but gloss over someone’s little faults. But God is not this way. I took notice of this characteristic in God this week, when I fell down a couple of stairs and found myself sprawled on the ground ~ henceforth needing to spend a few days off my feet recovering.
Three days prior to this incident, the Lord whispered in my heart to do something regarding my finances. When I mentioned this to some of my close associates, they began to reason why I shouldn’t do it at that moment. I listened to their advice and did nothing. I also know that the Scripture says, “Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear His voice, Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness”. The purpose of this word in Hebrews from the apostle Paul is to remind us how important it is to be soft in your heart to hear the voice of God. The day I fell I had already decided to do what the Lord had said.
You may wonder, “Why did you fall after you had been obedient to the Lord, even though it took three days to come to that obedience?” We learn from Isaiah that God’s ways are not our ways. Sometimes He brings attention to things that we normally would not take time to observe. It would be inappropriate for me to share all of the details of how my obedience to Him was fulfilled, but it suffices to say it all involved timing. This was a sign of God’s love to me, and showed me how important obedience to God is on a personal level. He slowed me down to a point to where I could seriously observe and contemplate the importance of obedience, and how noncoercive His voice is.
In the natural, we all know how scary the voice of a person in authority is to us. Most people in authority work especially on their vocal presentation so that it causes coercion in the hearers. God is just the opposite. He is kind, gentle, and above all, full of love. For this reason the fear of God is never generated by God. It must be generated by us ~ respect, awe, and deep yearning for His love. No wonder King David said, “As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God.” In the New Testament, Paul expresses it with true yearning of the Spirit, “Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.”
These deep expressions to God, put you in a place of security in His loving arms that can never be compared with any other experience in the human realm. Oh, how I love Him!
A Place To Meet Jesus 