Fearing God

When I was preparing for my Confirmation a long, long time ago, I was taught that one of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit is "fear of the Lord." I found that pretty difficult to understand and I think I grew up being afraid of God. Not that there is anything wrong with that, I suppose.

When I was much older, I started to discover that the "fear" of God was not the same as my fear of other things, such as snakes, death, and so on. I have spent some of my life reflecting on the loving mercy of God and have come to the conclusion that the "fear" I was taught about when I was about 11 years old, is really revering God, placing God before all, and acknowledging that God is the source of all that exists.

It was the death of my parents - my Dad passed away in 2007 and my Mum died in 2009 - that taught me about relying on God. I have to rely on God to look after them. Yes, I believe that there is life beyond this earthly existence and I pray daily that God will be merciful to my parents and grant them eternal life with all the angels and saints.

Today, I came across a reading about fearing God. I liked what I read because it resonates with my belief. You might find it worth reading, too.

http://www.godtube.com/devotionals/our-daily-journey/daily-devotional-may-27-2011-fearing-god.html?utm_source=GodTube%20Today&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=05/27/2011

This link is through GodTube. If you want to go straight to the source of the reading, then use the following link:

http://www.ourdailyjourney.org/category/daily-devotional/