Forty Days Without FearSample

THE FEAR OF GOD PRODUCES HOPE

The American author David Foster Wallace once gave a famous commencement speech at Kenyon College, in which he said that ‘everyone worships something.’ The point he was making was that everyone gives their lives to something; the only choice we get to make is what we give our lives to. As a non-Christian author, this was a bold claim from Foster Wallace, but what he said is entirely true. 

Some people worship money and fame, some worship family or friends, and others worship God. For many the decision is rooted in their understanding of who, or what, is in control of the world we live in; whether God is in charge or not.

Many people today, believe the world is a product of chance; where humans are the power players, responsible for their own lives. This can seem quite an appealing way of thinking, until you follow it to its root and realise that this theory rules out any hope for the future! If God is removed from the equation, there is no hope for God’s Kingdom of peace being established on Earth, and no assurance of eternal life.

However, if God is added into the equation as the One in charge of the world, we begin to see things through a lens of hope, where all the wrongs are righted and all the suffering around us, ends. In today’s verses we are reminded there is purpose to our lives and a great future ahead!

This amazing hope for the future comes through fear of God. Only in understanding who God is and how powerful He is, do we realise the eternal hope we have. Our God holds the planets, the stars, your lives and mine in His hands, and because of that we can trust that the best is yet to come.

Action: Consider whether or not we have an eternal perspective. Do we carry hope for the future confident we will see and be with God forever in a restored Earth, together with those who have died in Him? Let’s ask God to open our eyes to the hope we have, and may we carry that hope to others.