Daily Devotional

How well do you understand the principles of electricity and how it works to power the lights and devices around your home? If you saw a bunch of loose wires coming out of your wall sparking and crackling would you run up and grab them with your bare hands? Hopefully not. I think most of us have a healthy fear of electricity, part of that comes from knowing the danger that electricity can pose to our body if handled incorrectly, but also from a lack of understanding of just how this invisible, powerful, and sometimes deadly force works. This is the same principle here, the fear of the Lord is a healthy respect for who He is, and what He can do. It doesn’t mean we are constantly in a state of terror just thinking about God, much like we don’t tremble in fear every time we turn on a light switch. To fear the Lord is to rightly recognize His place in the universe, over our lives, and over our circumstances.

The second part of this verse is that the knowledge of God is understanding. You might think these two are the same thing but I submit that they are not. There are many people in this world who know the scriptures, have read and studied about God but don’t believe in Him or pay Him any mind. For many the more we learn about God the more we respect and fear God, but for some, they have all the knowledge but live as if God doesn’t exist. Using the electricity analogy, if you knew everything about how it works but still just stuck your hand in among the wires without regard to any safety precautions you are probably going to get zapped. Your lack of respect for the electricity doesn't make it any less real or deadly, and if all you have is knowledge but don’t act according to that knowledge then it does you no good.
 
You see we read in the scriptures that God is all powerful, all knowing, and everywhere. There is nothing that is hidden from Him, nothing He can’t do, and is always present. That should influence our actions. He knows our actions, He knows our thoughts, and He knows our hearts. We can’t hide anything from Him, we can’t fool Him, and we certainly can’t defeat Him. Knowing this is understanding, living like it is the beginning of wisdom. God is a loving and forgiving God, but He also has standards that He commands us to live up to. He is calling you to not only live like there is a God, but that He is with you always and knows your innermost thoughts. Repent of your sins today and seek the face of God in all that you do today!

New King James Version (NKJV)
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.