March 13th

Fear of the Lord & Doublemindedness

"Teach me Your way, O LORD; I will walk in Your truth; Unite my heart to fear Your name.  I will praise You, O Lord my God, with all my heart, and I will glorify Your name forevermore."  Psalm 86:11-12 NKJV 

These verses remind me of a time when I was chastened by God.  Though I had been meeting with the Lord daily in prayer, I had somehow forgotten that I was talking to God.  The Lord bluntly said, “You must learn to be respectful in My presence.”  That was all it took to make me bury my head in chagrin.  Later that night, as I walked under the star-filled sky, I began to realize again the vastness of God and his creation.  I was humbled and awed by the beautiful sky.  I felt so incredibly insignificant, yet here the Creator of the universe had spoken to me as a father would to his son.  This experience led me to a better understanding of the “fear of the Lord.”   

The Fear of the Lord is a good kind of fear.  It carries a reverential tone and a recognition of how absolutely awesome God is.  Such an appreciation caused great men of God like Moses and Joshua to fall on their faces when they went before God.   The fear of the Lord includes a deep appreciation for what Jesus did on the cross for us.  It involves recognizing God’s perfection and holiness and confessing our imperfection and lack of holiness. 

The humdrum of daily life can dull our sensitivity to the fear of the Lord.   When we stop fearing God, we will usually take a more casual attitude toward sin.  As soon as we start tolerating habitual sins in our lives, we open the door to "doublemindedness."  This is where we try to follow God with one part of our mind, while following lust or some other sin with the other part.   

Recovering from sex addiction is a process of casting off doublemindedness and embracing single-minded devotion to God.  God will help us through this process if we ask him to.  He will help us regain a healthy fear for him and reunite our minds in devotion to him.  It is at that point that we can finally praise God with all our hearts.     

Questions for further thought:

• Has the reality of God been dulled in your life?  If so, what factors have contributed to that dulling?
• In your own words, what does it mean to fear the Lord?
• How is the fear of the Lord different from the fear that the devil tries to trap us with?
• What does this proverb mean: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 1:7 NKJV)?

Prayer: 

“Father, please forgive me for not fearing your name as I should.  Please forgive me for allowing myself to grow dull and tolerate sin in my life.  Lord, please help me rediscover the reality of all that you are.  Please help me to have a renewed appreciation for your glory, majesty, power and love. I commit myself to honoring you, Lord, by how I live from this point forward.  Please unite my heart to serve you and fear you, O God.  Thank you Father, and may your name be praised now and forever, Amen.”