A Friend of God

Happy Friday,
 
Man is plagued with many fears, some of them odd. Mysophobia is fear of dirt. Hydrophobia is fear of water. Nyctophobia is fear of darkness. Acrophobia is fear of high places. Xenophobia is fear of strangers. Claustrophobia is fear of confined places. Triskaidekaphobia is fear of the number 13. Unfortunately, many people who have learned to fear things that they probably shouldn't have, never learned to fear God.
 
Belshazzar was one of those people. Whatever other fears he may have had, a fear of the God of Israel was not one of them. In the midst of a great feast, the king, a grandson of Nebuchadnezzar, ordered the gold and silver vessels taken from the temple in Jerusalem to be put on display. He did not seem to care that God had humbled Nebuchadnezzar by having him reduced to the lifestyle of a beast eating grass for seven years, until the great King repented and feared God.
 
So, with utter disregard for the sacred nature of these utensils, and with no concern for God, Belshazzar profaned them by using them in his drunken revelry. It was not until a hand appeared and wrote on the palace wall of God's judgment that this arrogant king began to fear. But by then it was too late. His fate was sealed.   Many people today treat God flippantly. They use His name in vain. They trample His standards of righteousness underfoot. They flout their sin in His face. They treat God's people with disdain and contempt. Yet they show no fear. Only when it's too late for many of them will they realize what fools they've been.
 
With Father's Day approaching, I heard a speaker say this week that their father's most lasting statement in their memory contained only 3 words:  "TAKE GOD SERIOUSLY."
 
Just how seriously do you take God, and do your kids recognize that seriousness in your life?  Be assured that one day everyone will fear God. The best course of action is to bow before Him in fear as Savior, walk before Him in humble obedience now, so you don't have to bow before Him in fear as Judge later. The choice is yours, would it not be much better to be at easy with God, and have Him call you friend now.  Let me close with a verse about Abraham, the one God called His friend.
 
God said about Abraham, “For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord” (Gen. 18:19).

Henry