A daily devotion for August 27th
The Fear of the Lord
Judgment came against Jehoiakim not simply because he acted foolishly in burning the Scriptures but because of the condition of heart which that action revealed. This is given to us in one flaming sentence in Verse 24: Yet neither the king, nor any of his servants who heard all these words, was afraid, nor did they rend their garments. These men had lost the fear of God. And when a nation or a people or an individual loses the fear of God, they are on their way to destruction. For the fear of God is based upon the sovereign power which he exercises in life. These men were shown to be stupid and senseless men who had lost their sense of reality entirely, because they had lost the fear of God.
There is one great fact everywhere revealed — in Scripture, in history, and even in nature — which has been called the law of retribution. That is, there is an inevitable consequence for doing wrong, and there is no way to escape it. Even an atheist, who does not believe in God at all, must admit that when he examines the laws of nature he is faced with the conclusion that you either obey the laws of nature and live, or disobey them and die. And man is helpless to change that. We are in the grip of forces greater than we are, and everything on every side testifies to this. That is why we learn respect for the laws of electricity. You do not fool around with 10,000 volts of electrical potential, thinking you are going to make up the laws as you go along. You had better find out what they are first, for you disobey them to your peril and death.
This is what God has implanted in every part of life. How foolish and utterly stupid is the person who seeks to ignore that fact. God requires of every nation that there be the recognition of his sovereign government of men, and the law of retribution for evil. History has testified repeatedly that God always accomplishes what he says he is going to do. God rules in the affairs of men. Napoleon, at the height of his career, once very boldly said, God is on the side that has the heaviest artillery — his cynical answer to someone who asked if God was on the side of France. Then came the Battle of Waterloo, where he lost both the battle and his empire. Years later, in exile on the island of St. Helena, chastened and humbled, Napoleon said, Man proposes; God disposes. This is the lesson with which life seeks to confront us. God is able to work his sovereign will — despite man. Therefore the basic, elementary knowledge of life with which everyone ought to start is the fear of God.
Life Application
Is the arrogant defiance of God in our cultural environment eroding our reverent fear of our holy God? Do we need to inventory our hearts for signs of self righteous pride?
Daily Devotion © 2014, 2025 by Ray Stedman Ministries.
I just came across this powerful lesson in a book
by Chuck Swindoll. Check it out...
"One of my mentors, Ray Stedman, ministered in the San Francisco area of California, which has always been an interesting place. This was especially true during the sixties and seventies. One year, J. Vernon McGee invited him to preach a series of messages at the Church of the Open Door in Los Angeles, which Ray gladly did. During a break one evening, he strolled down Hope Street, which reminded him a lot of his own mission field up north. He didn’t go very far before encountering one of the area’s more colorful residents; an eccentric man with long, tangled hair, a scraggly beard, and filthy clothes walked toward him wearing a sandwich board. Written on the front in bold letters—no doubt by the man himself—were the words “I am a slave for Jesus Christ.” The scruffy prophet held Ray’s eyes in a steady gaze until he passed by, and as he continued up the sidewalk, Ray turned to read the back side of the sandwich board. It read, “Whose slave are you?”
A good question asked by a strange example! We all serve something; it’s just a matter of what.
Some are slaves of their work. These servants of busyness and achievement can’t shut down their laptops for more than a couple of hours
at a time, and their electronic devices are all but surgically implanted in their hands. They take working vacations to appease neglected loved ones and miserly hoard days off they never intend to take. A balanced life always lies just beyond the current project deadline.
Some are slaves to things, possessions, temporal stuff. Driven by the fantasy that contentment can be found in the having of things, they cannot stop acquiring long enough to enjoy what they already own, which prompts the question, “How much is enough?” H. L. Hunt, the billionaire oil tycoon, is credited with the most honest reply I’ve heard to date: “Money is just a way of keeping score.”
Perhaps more than ever, people are enslaved to relationships. They magically mutate into whatever pleasing shape will gain them the approval of another. They cycle between self-acceptance and self-loathing, depending upon the affirmation or criticism they receive. They eagerly sacrifice themselves and, ironically, those they love to avoid the most dreadful condition of all: aloneness.
Perhaps the most pathetic and increasingly common slaves are those who are enslaved to the god of self. Psychologists call them narcissists. The name comes from a figure in Roman mythology named Narcissus, who fell in love with his own reflection in a stream. When he tried to kiss the object of his love, his lips disturbed the water and his image ran away, which left him heartbroken. He dared not drink from the stream for fear of losing his lover forever. Eventually, the slave of self-love died of thirst.
Narcissists serve themselves, even when they appear to be selfless, and they relentlessly demand the time, attention, admiration, devotion, and nurturing of others. But this, like the other forms of slavery, only leads to greater emptiness.
We all serve something—it’s just a matter of what."
