Those Who Fear God

Reasonable People

“But at the end of that period I, Nebuchadnezzar raised my eyes toward heaven and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High and praised and honored Him who lives forever.”

-Daniel 4:24 (NAS)

What do reasonable people look like? This passage in Daniel sheds light on that question. The passage begins with King Nebuchadnezzar bragging to himself. He boasts that the great city of Babylon was built by his mighty power and for the glory of his personal majesty.  What an audacious claim!  Immediately, God struck King Nebuchadnezzar with a mental disorder, causing him to leave his glorious palace and live in the fields. For seven years Nebuchadnezzar wandered aimlessly, eating grass like a cow. 

Then in His timing, God removed the king’s mental disorder. In verse 34 of this passage, Nebuchadnezzar is a very different man. Look at what he says, “…my reason returned to me and I blessed the Most High and honored Him who lives forever.” What a stark contrast this verse presents when compared to the first verse in this passage.

 We can conclude then, that a person who honors God is a person with a sound mind. We see this truth in the New Testament too. Mark tells of a demon possessed man who lived among the tombs crying out and cutting himself with stones. Then in Mark 5:15 we read that after Jesus had cast out the demon; the man was clothed, in his right mind, and sitting at the feet of Jesus.

 The world may try to say people who honor God, bless His name, and sit at the feet of Jesus are religious fanatics but the Bible says otherwise. The Bible tells us that such people are in their right mind and thinking clearly.

 

Those Who Fear God

Have you ever heard someone refer to another person as “godly”? Perhaps you have heard someone say, “My pastor is such a godly man!” or “The leader of our Bible study is one of the godliest people I know!”  What does it mean to be godly?  The term conjures up the impression of someone who is somehow above others in his or her relationship with God – a Christian that is perhaps a little closer to perfect than the rest of us; a little higher up on the ladder towards heaven than most. Yes, we use this term but is it Biblical? 

There are only a very few times in scripture where a person is spoken of as “godly” and the term “Godliness” is found more often. But “God-fearing” is mentioned with greater frequency than either of these other two terms.

In other words, the concept of being Godly is only occasionally spoken of as something to be achieved in one’s lifetime – as a noun, if you will.  Sometimes it is used as an adjective or adverb to describe something, such as “godly sincerity” or “godly sorrow”.  Most often, however, the concept is presented as a verb or an action; something we do.  This can be seen when the words God and fear are linked. The scriptures tell us to fear God as in to revere or worship God. They also shed light on what God thinks of those who fear Him. Confused?  Hopefully, it will become clearer after taking a closer look at the terms.

The word Godly only shows up in the King James Version of the Bible fifteen times.  Several of these verses use it as a descriptive word.  One example of this is 2^nd Corinthians 1:12 which refers to a godly sincerity. It is interesting to consider what Paul does not say in these verses.  He does not talk about godly people. Rather Paul speaks of the people conducted themselves in a godly manor with godly sincerity. 

One of the verses that uses the term godly is a call for action.  Psalms 32:6 says, “Let everyone who is godly pray.” Another time, the term brings with it the warning that all who desire to live godly in Jesus Christ will be persecuted.” Yet even these verses seem to describe a manor in which to live, not an achievement to accomplish.

Only once do I find the tern used exclusively to describe a person or group of people.  This instance is found in Psalms 4:3, “But know that the Lord has set apart the godly for Himself.” What a beautiful verse! But even this verse opens the door to a discussion about the total depravity of man – a discussion I will forgo at this point, except to say that I believe it is God who declares us godly. We are godly because has declared our sins forgiven and us covered by the blood of His Son, Jesus. We are godly because God deems us so, not because of any works of our own. 

The terms fear and God together, on the other hand, show up 135 times in the King James Version of the Bible. If you do a word search on these two words you will be amazed at what you find! There are so many times people are told to fear God or are commended as one who fears God. And there are numerous promises too! God loves for His people to fear or revere Him and He lavishes His blessings on those who do.

 

 

 

Those Who Fear God

One of my pet peeves is hearing someone referred to as “godly”. In Christian circles we hear this term often…but does the Bible use this term when making references to people? Well, yes, on occasion, but more often the scriptures speak of people who are God-fearing. In fact, in some of the places where the term Godly is used, it is not in reference to a person at all but a trait, such as Godly sorrow that leads to repentance. (2nd Corinthians 7:9-10) God – fearing on the other hand is mentioned often! And it is accompanied by many promises of blessings from God for those who fear Him. Personally, I strongly prefer this term for people I know whose relationship with God I admire.

Brenda

I am blessed to call Brenda a friend. She is one of the most precious people I know! She was born to a single mother living in the inner city, along with several sisters and one baby brother. Her only brother died of an accidental gunshot wound at age three. She was in high school that day helping a teacher grade papers when someone came into her room and told her she needed to go home right away. When she arrived at home police and an ambulance were in front of her house. A neighbor came up to the car and told her that there had been an accident. Her baby brother had been shot.

Brenda loved her baby brother. She was 11 when he was born. Because her mother was deaf, Brenda was the one who woke up with him at night when he cried. Brenda fed him his bottle. She would ride to school the next day exhausted but she didn’t mind. It was a good kind of exhaustion. She would lay her head on the desk at school and think about how much she loved babies. She knew then that all she ever really wanted to be when she grew up was a mom.

When I met Brenda she was a struggling single mother of three beautiful and well behaved sons. My children were close to her children’s ages. We became instant friends. But she was not a Christian and I did not know how to share my faith with her. She was a delightful person! She was and is like a ray of sunshine. In all the years I have known her, I have never seen her pessimistic. Even as a struggling single mom living in subsidized housing, she smiled all the time. Her apartment was bright, cheery and clean with equally bright and cheery little boys running all around it. My children loved to visit them and I loved to spend time with Brenda!

As our friendship grew, she asked me one day if I would mind going with her and her mother to a Dr’s visit. I was a nurse and her mother had cancer. Brenda thought that perhaps I could better understand what the Dr had to say. I could explain it to Brenda and she would sign the information to her deaf mother. Then, if her mother had questions Brenda would tell them to me and I could answer. I gladly went along.

Some months later, Brenda called and said that her mother was in the hospital not expected to live. She asked if I could have my pastor visit her mom. She thought a pastor’s visit would be helpful but neither she nor her mother was a member of a church. I sent my husband –he’s not a pastor but he loves the Lord and he loves to share the plan of salvation with people. That night in the hospital room, Brenda and her sister Donna, along with their mother accepted Jesus as their savior. Her mom died 2 months later.

After having made a profession of faith, I nagged poor Brenda to go to Bible study with me until she finally went just to get me to shut up. About this same time, God brought Omar into her life. Omar was a few years younger than Brenda and had never been married. He had become a Christian in college. When I learned of his commitment to Christ, I was overjoyed and exclaimed to my husband, “God has brought a Christian man into the life of my Brenda!” My husband wisely corrected me in a gentle voice with, “No honey…God brought you into the life of Omar’s Brenda to get her ready for him.”

Omar and Brenda dated for a couple of years. Then one day she called me and said, “I’m going to be a bride!! Omar asked me to be his bride! I never thought I would get to be a bride! My sons’ father told me he would never marry me…but Omar wants to make me his bride!” Tears rolled down my cheeks as I heard the joy in my friend’s voice. God is so good! He had brought a hero into the life of my beautiful friend.

Today, Omar and Brenda have been married for going on 10 years. Brenda’s oldest son has grown up and moved out. Her second son is a soldier in Iraq, and her youngest is a junior in high school. She and Omar love the Lord with all their hearts. They are shining examples of people who fear God. Today, they are fostering abused children in their homes with the hopes of adopting some. Brenda is still getting up in the middle of the night to feed crying babies and still doing all she does with a smile on her face. But now she evangelizes everyone she sees too. Her "family" today includes not just her biological sons, and her foster babies, but also two young women who worked at the day care where she works. Both of these young college students come from unbelieving homes and have come to know the Lord through Brenda’s witness.

Last Christmas, she sent me a picture of her “family” standing in front of their tree. It included, Brenda who is Caucasian, Omar who is African-American, Brenda’s three biological sons who are all bi-racial, the two young women, one of whom is Caucasian and the other one is Arabic and was a convert from Islam, and the two foster babies who are both bi-racial. Brenda is a God–fearer and one of my greatest blessings! And it just so happens her birthday is next week. Happy birthday Brenda!!