January 6, 2024

Passage Read: Deuteronomy 16-19
Meditation Verses: 17:19-20

Thought

The way to humility and fearing God is pretty simple: read and obey God's Word all the days of your life! Simple and complete obedience guards a heart from pride and teaches it to fear the Lord. That was the prescription given to any man who would be king over the Israelites: to write themselves a copy of the Law, read it all their days and carefully do all it says. There has to be that initial humility and fear that moves the king to obey this command, but if he gets started and continues on to read and carefully observe all that is commanded, then he will continue to grow in fear of the Lord and in humility. But the one who chooses not to carefully observe everything written in God's Word is one who is prideful and does not fear the Lord. If he continues in that way, he will only grow worse, even if he is a scholar of the Word. He studies it not to obey, but to discount it, which displays arrogance and a lack of fear for God.

Application

Humility and the fear of the Lord go hand in hand; they are the same thing, an acknowledgment of the greatness of God and the brotherhood of all men. No man is truly greater than another, not by any measure of intrinsic qualities. What distinguishes men is their fear of God and obedience to Him. God then exalts the obedient man over others because he understands his duties from God toward his fellow man, and He fears the Judge of all men. The more I humble myself before God and fear Him, as proved by the completeness of my obedience to His Word, the more He can entrust me with responsibility over others.