Job 26:1-29:25

Job begins his final speech to his friends by telling them that they are right. God will ultimately punish the wicked and bless the righteous. Even on this earth their is a tendency for the righteous to prosper under God’s blessing and the wicked to be brought down. But then Job asks them if they know what true wisdom is; true wisdom is fear of the Lord and forsaking evil. Job them speaks about how his fear of the Lord was the source of all his former blessing.

“The fear of the Lord is true wisdom; to forsake evil is real understanding.” So says Job. What is it to have “fear of the Lord”? I would suggest that to have fear of the Lord is to care about what God thinks. To have fear of the Lord is to stop in every activity you engage in throughout the day and ask is this pleasing or displeasing to God. I know without even thinking very hard that there are many activities I engage in that show I do not have a fear of the Lord. I need to work to correct these behaviors.

If we have faith in the grace of Jesus Christ we are blessed with the gift of forgiveness. This gift can make it easy for us to overlook our own sins by saying that they are forgiven. But while our sins may be forgiven, our sins can still hurt us and those around us. If we take the time to have a fear of the Lord we will hurt ourselves and those around us far less.