Mark Tabata’s Weekday Devotionals:
Thursday March 19 2026
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Malachi 2:5-My covenant was with him, one of life and peace, And I gave them to him that he might fear Me; So he feared Me And was reverent before My name.
What does it mean to fear God?
Some believe that we should be petrified of God, while teach that God wants us to respect Him the way that a child respects his father.
Couldn’t both be true?
Wiersbe writes:
“There are at least eighteen references to “the fear of the Lord” in Proverbs (1: 7, 29; 2: 5; 3: 7; 8: 13; 9: 10; 10: 27; 14: 2, 26–27; 15: 16, 33; 16: 6; 19: 23; 22: 4; 23: 17; 24: 21; 31: 30). If you read all these verses carefully, you’ll get a good idea of what this important biblical phrase means. If we truly “fear the Lord,” we acknowledge from our hearts that He’s the Creator, we’re the creatures; He’s the Father, we’re His children; He’s the Master, we’re the servants. It means to respect God for who He is, to listen carefully to what He says, and to obey His Word, knowing that our disobedience displeases Him, breaks our fellowship with Him, and invites His chastening. It’s not the servile fear of the slave before the master but the reverential and respectful fear of the child before the parent. Children fear not only because their parents can hurt them, but also because they can hurt their parents. Proverbs 13: 13 admonishes us to fear God’s commandments, which suggests that the way we treat our Bible is the way we treat God. “But what is this fear of the Lord?” asks Charles Bridges, and he answers the question adequately: “It is that affectionate reverence by which the child of God bends himself humbly and carefully to his Father’s law. His wrath is so bitter, and His love so sweet; that hence springs an earnest desire to please Him, and—because of the danger of coming short from his own weakness and temptations—a holy watchfulness and fear, ‘that he might not sin against Him. 7.” (Warren W. Wiersbe, Be Skillful (Proverbs): God’s Guidebook to Wise Living by Warren W. Wiersbe, 24 (Kindle Edition): Colorado Springs, CO: David C.. Cook)
The type of fear of God that we have will largely depend on our relationship with Him.
Is it the fear of a criminal before a holy Judge?
Or is it the fear of a child before his compassionate Father?
God desires the relationship of a Father with His children from us (2 Corinthians 6:16-18), but He will be our Judge if we foolishly reject Him.
John 1:12-But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name…
John 3:5-Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
The decision is ours.
Create in us a clean heart, Lord. We thank You for loving us. Amen.