Fear Of God // Stand In AweSample

Fear of God v the Fear of Man

I recently read a story on the news about a man who was bitten by one of the world’s most venomous snakes. One bite from this snake contains enough venom to kill 100 people, but the man fortunately managed to survive, as he got treated with an anti-venom within half an hour! That would be a great story to tell your mates, but it must have been pretty worrying for him at the time!

There are all kinds of poisons in the world today; some which our bodies naturally fight and others that require an antidote for the recovery process to begin. But for many of us, a poison that affects us greatly is the fear of man. This fear has the potential to impair and destroy our lives, primarily because it causes us to believe that man has more power over our life than God. 

Whether it be words spoken over us, actions towards us or gossip behind our back, other people have the potential to cause us all kinds of offense. The question is, whose voice are you listening to?

In today’s Scripture, the Bible tells us that when it comes to this poison, we have a choice, of whether to trust in man or to trust in God. We get to choose who will be the number one voice in our life, and if we’re unsure which one to choose, the Bible tells us what the best choice is: the voice of our creator God!

In life, we can listen and agree with what the crowd says about us, or we can choose to accept what Christ says about us. We can listen to what social media says, or listen to what our Saviour says. We can listen to the words of man, or listen to the Word of our maker. Our heavenly Father says that we are fearfully and wonderfully made; that there is a plan and purpose for our life; and that greater is He who is in us than he who is in the world. 

The best antidote to the fear of man is the fear of God. Whatever labels people try to put on you, the fear of God shows that you are a child of God, and as soon as you realise that your identity is in Christ, you’ll never fall into the trap of listening to the words of man.