How to Be Blessed
Part Five
We’re continuing to explore the theme – “How to be Blessed.” Once again, I want to remind you that we are not using the definition to express the ability to get rich or to simply access positive things in our lives. Instead our threefold definition is simply:
1) To be especially happy and content
2) To have inner peace within
3) To be confident and fulfilled
This is the definition of blessed that we will use as we explore this particular theme of obtaining God’s blessing.
Today’s texts will begin with Psalm 111:10. “The Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow His precepts have good understanding. To him belongs eternal praise.”
That particular verse concludes the 111th Psalm and the first verse of Psalm 112 ties together with it to make the main text we will consider today. Psalm 112: 1 says “Praise the Lord. Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who finds great delight in his commands.”
So the theme this morning is finding God’s blessing by Fearing the Lord. Now, this word fear is interesting because Paul told Timothy that God does not give us the Spirit of Fear (We will look at that verse more later for comparison purposes) and John wrote that perfect love casts out fear. Why then, are we being told in the Psalms that we are to fear God?
This word “fear” means to have a healthy respect for and to recognize the danger of crossing. It doesn’t mean to shake in our boots of God, but it does mean we have a knowledge of God’s holiness and don’t want to do things that would bring dishonor to Him. Or course, some of this will involve a certain amount of healthy fear that will judge us for our transgressions. Since God is a perfect example of fatherhood, we don’t have to live in fear that He will lash out and unjustly discipline us, but it involves the knowledge that He, in His righteousness, and in His love. To fear God is to know that He will discipline us and to love Him for that expression of His divine holiness.
In some ways I think we need to “fear” God like we do electricity. We recognize its potential to harm us, but also the need for it to be used properly in our lives. Of course, in Southern California, the major part of electricity that we learn to fear is the bills, especially in the summer months when we are running our fans or air conditioners. We don’t need to tremble in fear, but we need to know that touching a downed power wire is a hurtful thing to do.
The Psalmist writes that the “fear” of the Lord is where wisdom begins. Wisdom is needed for every area of our lives. It is needed to know how to deal with our children, our employer, our neighbors, our finances, or generally life’s problems. When God appeared to Solomon, Solomon had a chance to ask for whatever he wanted. He could have asked for riches and power. Instead, he confessed his need was for wisdom and his desire for God to show him how to govern the people. He saw that the job was bigger than he was and recognize he needed God’s direction.
A really cool thing about wisdom is that it is the ONE THING in the Bible that God promises to give liberally to anyone who asks without an expression of displeasure. (See James 1) It is the one thing God wants to pour out on His people. If want ask him, He will give us real wisdom.
This is a good place to talk about the opposite of wisdom- foolishness. Psalm 14:1 provides the Biblical definition of a fool, which is different that what we remember Mr. T calling Murdock on the old A-Team television program. In fact, Jesus tells us not to call our brother a fool, which seems to make Mr. T. a terrible person for all those times he said, “Shut up, Fool!” The Biblical concept of a fool is the one who has rejected the existence, the authority, and the commands of God. Psalm 14:1 says it clearly, “The fool has said in his heart there is no God!” Therefore, the fool is the one who has rejected God.
You see, our experience with the word fool comes from the medieval concept of the court jester, or the fool who simply mocked anybody and everybody with his imitation and silliness. He would do the opposite of what people expected. Even some Native American tribes had a concept of a “contrary” or a person who acted contrary to the mainstream. These contrary men were considered to be sort of holy as they dressed backward, walked backwards, and sometimes even spoke backwards. To us, this just sounds completely silly and absurd. Of course, rejecting God is of course the highest pinnacle, the summit of silliness, isn’t it?
The Psalmist declares that we are blessed (happy, at peace, and fulfilled) when we find delight in obeying God. Now, before we get to the delight part of that, we have to go back to our verse from chapter 11 that describes having good understanding.
I’m not certain what order the understanding and the delight come in. God has called me to do some things that are difficult, at first, to find delight in. It is difficult to pray FOR those who are hurting me. My personal experience was that when I was obedient to God to pray for those who were acting inappropriately and hurting me then I began to have a genuine concern for that person. This was not a delightful experience at first. However, I found that it brought me understanding. I began to comprehend how Jesus, in a much greater magnitude than I experienced, was able to offer sincere prayers on behalf of those who crucified him on the cross. That concern for the other person moved the focus off of myself, my own hurts, my own injuries, and focused on the needs of the other person. It brought peace into my heart when all around me people wondered how I could have such an attitude.
The point I want to make is that we begin with obedience and that the simple act of obedience brings us to the point of understanding God’s work in and around us. For me personally, obedience leads to understanding and understanding leads to delighting in doing God’s Will.
Slipping over to the New Testament, however, is the Apostle Paul’s admonition that God does not bring fear into our lives. The King James says “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, of love, and of a sound mind.” So here we have a bit more discussion of fear. The NIV translates the Greek word for “fear” as “timidity” and I believe since Paul is writing to Timothy (which means timid) it is a valid translation. In context, Paul is telling Timothy not to be afraid to do what God has called him to do.
We have to keep reminding ourselves that God calls people to do hard things. God’s call to Moses was so difficult that Moses offered a wheelbarrow load of excuses in his efforts to avoid obedience. God called Abraham to go to a strange land, leaving behind his family. God called Jonah to go and preach to his enemies. God called Christ to go to the cross. God called Paul to go to Jerusalem and submit himself to the very people he had once persecuted. The calling of God is often going to be to involve ourselves in a difficult task. Therefore, we are going to need boldness.
While we are speaking about boldness, be aware that even the brave apostle Paul asked the believers in Ephesus to pray for him to receive boldness (Ephesians 6) so even he understood that God wants to send power and confidence into the life of the believer to provide strength for accomplishing the will of God.
Love is an important element of the believer’s life. Jesus told his disciples that it would be the distinguishing mark of believers that would cause the world to recognize his disciples. Paul wrote that instead of being motivated by fear, we need to be motivated by love.
Finally, a sound mind means clear thinking. God wants to provide clear thinking to the believer. Hey, that brings us full circle back to Psalm 111—when it describes good understanding that comes from obedience to God’s commands.
In summary, we will see this concept repeated over and over in our quest for God’s blessing—that obedience is necessary. We cannot expect God’s blessing without obedience.
A silly example would be a teen who refuses to obey his
\her curfew. He or she just can’t arrive at home on time for some reason. Oh, they can make it to the movies on time. In fact, they usually want to get there early enough to see the previews. Stallone and Swarzanegger both have new films coming out. I wonder how those two manage to stand up out of their wheelchairs long enough to fight with a bad guy. We might laugh, but hey, remember Clint Eastwood talks to invisible people in chairs, so he is showing his age, too. So the morning that Jett comes in late, for example, isn’t a good time for him to approach mom and dad for some money or to ask to use the car, or pretty much anything. OBEDIENCE comes BEFORE blessing.
You cannot expect God to bless you if you are living outside of His will. You will see this concept over and over again, so let’s learn it and apply it in our lives.
