As I read this morning in study of the word “everlasting” I was brought to the book of Jeremiah where God identifies His people and that He will be their God. As I get to the verse I was led to, I see that God makes an everlasting covenant with the people and makes it so they will not turn away from Him.
“40I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. And I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me.” — Jeremiah 32:40 (ESV)
I asked myself, What is the “Fear of God”? Well depending on where you look for the answer, you may get many different definitions, but one thing is clear, it is a full reverence of God.
In the Psalms we see that fearing the Lord means to stand in awe of the living God (Ps. 33:8), to glorify him (Ps. 22:3), and to trust him wholeheartedly (Ps. 40:3). Those who fear the Lord receive his steadfast love (Ps. 103:17) and experience friendship with God (Ps 25:14)! In the book of Proverbs the fear of the Lord is a continual submission to God in humility and faith (Prov. 23:17) and consists of a hatred of evil and the desire to turn away from it (Prov. 8:13; 16:6). — from: “What is ‘Fear of the Lord’?”, https://eccelmira.org/articles/what-is-the-fear-of-the-lord/
As I apply this to the passage from Jeremiah, I see that God was placing Himself in a position of reverence and trust in the hearts of the people. But it also has to be looked at as noted in the Proverbs 8 and 16 “a hatred of evil and the desire to turn away from it”. This everlasting covenant is in place that I might turn to God and away from the evil one. I am so in awe of the LORD that I am only able to look to Him. I am drawn to Him and the love and care and comfort and guidance He has for me. I am looking away from the evil one and all that he brings into this world and focusing my attention on the LORD.
I am thinking of the fear of the Lord and how that applies to my everyday life and into eternity. I am to be with God always. I am to love Him as He loves me, always and forever and without any conditions. He has already done all for me in sacrificial death on my behalf. I am only to give myself to Him fully. As I have full and complete reverence for Him and all that He is, I will turn away from the evil one. I will have complete focus on God and all that He is and gives and accept Him forever.
What does it mean to you to fully give yourself to God? Are you only glancing at Him from time to time? What if you fully accepted the fear of Him in your heart and turned away from the evil one and fully to Him?
Trevor's Thoughts 