‘What man is he that feareth the LORD? Him shall he teach in the way that he shall choose. His soul shall dwell at ease; and his seed shall inherit the earth.’ (Psalm 25:12-13)
There was a time not too many years ago when a believer was described simply as a ‘God-fearing man.’ That was before modern thought struck upon the idea that it was dishonoring to the mercy and goodness of God to fear Him, and the shallow “God loves everybody all the time anyway” mentality began. The Bible teaches that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. A person who fears God simply thinks of God first and foremost in all his actions, the governing factor being a desire to please Him. It is the motivating emotion that dominates the righteous person’s life.
The person who fears God need fear nothing else. He who does not fear God must fear every other threat, for he has no substantial defense.
The person who fears God will learn, for God Himself will teach him. He will be guided, for the Good Shepherd will unerringly lead him. He will be taught in the right way to go, the right things to do and the right decisions to make.
Many people erroneously expect God to give us a road map, a set of exhaustive instructions so that when any matter comes up all we need do is get out our road maps, or our rule book, our procedure manual, and go ahead. Not so! If that were true, we could take these and walk off from God because we would need Him no more.
Those who fear God, walk with Him. We, indeed, have the Bible which gives us righteous principles, but as for specific details for our everyday mundane living, often we can find no specific directions in the Scriptures.
God will choose for us at the time the choices we need to make. He shall choose our way for us and cause us to walk in that way. Few things are more comforting to the Christian than knowing that the Lord has ordered his steps. That is what is meant by, ‘his soul shall be at ease.’ He is not in a fizz and tizzy all the time wondering if he has made the right choices.
The seed of the righteous are those who have been born from above, begotten by the Spirit. They shall abide forever and inherit all things.
— Conrad Murrell