"The fear of God in some ways defies our attempts at definition, because it is really another way of saying' knowing God'. It is a heart-felt love for him because of who he is and what he has done; a sense of being in his majestic presence. it is a thrilling awareness that we have this greatest of all, mingled with a realization that now the only thing that really matters is his opinion. To have the assurance of his smile is everything; to feel that he frowns on what we do it desolation." - Sinclair Ferguson
We can boldly walk in God's smile because Jesus has taken the frown of desolation in our place. The only one to ever deserve that smile gives it away freely. God's smile is assured to his children and desolation can never touch those who are in Christ.
3 comments:
Amen and amen! To borrow from the original JT (James Taylor), "How Sweet It Is to Be Loved by..." Jesus.
Good stuff from Sinclair Furgeson, the next couple of sentences after what you quoted is good as well.
"To fear God is to be sensitive to both his greatness and his graciousness. It is to know Him and to love Him wholeheartedly and unreservedly." --Sinclair Furgeson
I found this from Derek Thomas who was using the quote you did from Sinclair Furgeson:
"The fear of God is not terror; it is the opposite of terror. It is a willingness to bow and say: "Whatever the Lord does is right.""
"But there is every incentive for God's people to say that, because God's wisdom has been revealed to us in personal terms. God has revealed himself to us in his own Son, Jesus Christ. He is the wisdom of God (1 Cor. 1:24). He tells us things about God that otherwise we would never know. He tells us that God loves us with a love that is beyond our grasp. He tells us that God's covenant is certain of fulfillment, that his word cannot be broken. We look to Jesus, and all that he has done on behalf of sinners, and we say: God is committed to my glorification. He will not rest until it is done. In some ways, our response of fear—the fear of God—is a response of a child who knows that his father loves him even if he cannot fathom what his father may be doing at any given moment."
--Derek Thomas (RTS Jackson MS)
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