Fearing God Wrongly

Fear (יִרְאַ֣ת) of the LORD is the foundation of wisdom. Knowledge of the Holy One results in good judgment. (Proverbs 9:10 NLT)

The fear (יִרְאַ֣ת) of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. (Proverbs 9:10 NIV)

Fear (יִרְאַ֣ת) can be reverential fear (a form of worship) or the terror or frightening feeling that something bad or even death may come.

Many fear God with the fear of a tyrant. They do not understand the action of God, but they dared not question Him. Their excuse is they fear the Lord.

This is wrong. Present your doubts. Question Him. You can ask nicely. Or you can scold Him about your perceived injustice. This one thing I know. My God will tolerate all your insults (He died on the cross) and will answer your questions and doubts if you are truly sincere in wanting to know the answers.

Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. (Philippians 2:6-8 KJV)

Job questioned God. He said he did no wrong and God punished him for nothing. God approved of Job's questions and answered him. But God was angry with Job's friends, who insisted that Job must had sinned because God was punishing him.

After the LORD had spoken these words to Job, He said to Eliphaz the Temanite, "My wrath is kindled against you and your two friends. For you have not spoken about Me accurately, as My servant Job has. (Job 42:7 BSB)

When you refuse to question God by giving the excuse that you fear Him, essentially you are saying this:

1. I am right.
2. God is wrong.
3. But I have no choice but to accept it because He is the boss.

Of course you will say, "No, I accept His action because He knows best and I fear God." Whatever it is, examine your own heart. Please, do not fear God as you fear a tyrant. You are saying God is an unreasonable tyrant. This is blasphemy.

There are things that are clearly God's secret. And it should be clear that these are God's secret, not an excuse to fear God as a tyrant. But there are those that He reveal to us. We know the glory of God from those He revealed.

The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, so that we may follow all the words of this law. (Deuteronomy 29:29 BSB)

There Was Never A Palestinian State

Saw this tweet:

QUOTE
#History of the "Palestinian state":
01. Before Israel there was a British mandate, not a Palestinian state.
02. Before the British mandate, there was the Ottoman Empire, not a Palestinian state.
03. Before the Ottoman Empire, there was the Islamic state of the Mamluks from Egypt, not a Palestinian state.
04. Before the Mamluks of Egypt, there was the Arab-Kurdish Ayyubid Empire, not a Palestinian state.
05. Before the Ayyubid Empire, there was the Frankish and Christian kingdom of Jerusalem, not a Palestinian state.
06. Before the Kingdom of Jerusalem, there was the Umayyad and Fatimid Empire, not a Palestinian state.
07. Before the Umayyad and Fatimid empires, there was the Byzantine Empire, not the Palestinian state.
08. Before the Byzantine Empire, there were the Sasanians, not a Palestinian state. 
09. Before the Sasanian Empire, there was the Byzantine Empire, not the Palestinian state.
10. Before the Byzantine Empire, there was the Roman Empire, not the Palestinian state.
11. Before the Roman Empire there was the Hasmonean state, not the Palestinian state. 
12. Before the Hasmonean state was the Seleucid state, not Palestinian.
13. Before the Seleucid Empire, there was the empire of Alexander the Great, not a Palestinian state.
14. Before the empire of Alexander the Great, there was the Persian empire, not the Palestinian one.
15. Before the Persian Empire was the Babylonian Empire, not a Palestinian state.
16. Before the Babylonian Empire, there were the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, not a Palestinian state. 
17. Before the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, there was the kingdom of Israel, not a Palestinian state.
18. Before the Kingdom of Israel, there was the theocracy of the twelve tribes of Israel, not a Palestinian state.
19. Before the theocracy of the twelve tribes of Israel, there was an accumulation of independent Canaanite city-kingdoms, not a Palestinian state.
In fact, this piece of land had everything, except for a Palestinian state, because there is no such nation!
Last edited 20231022 12:21 PM
UNQUOTE

History are facts. What can we do about facts? Three things. Accept it, lie about it or misinterpret it.

Last Nation To Be Converted

Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Shall a land be born in one day? Shall a nation be brought forth in one moment? For as soon as Zion was in labor she brought forth her children. (Isaiah 66:8 ESV)

"And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn. (Zechariah 12:10 ESV)

Jews are unbelievers, just like any other unbelievers in the world. And they have a negative view of Christianity because of their persecution by the Christians. But they are different from other unbelievers in that their conversion is prophesied. They will be the last nation to be converted, at the second coming of Jesus. A nation shall be born in one day.

The gospel starts from Jerusalem and goes west and will come back to Jerusalem from the east. God has not abandoned the Jews, unlike what some Christians think.

Lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written, "The Deliverer will come from Zion, he will banish ungodliness from Jacob; and this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins." (Romans 11:25-27 ESV)

Successful Believer Looks Like a Failure in the Eyes of the World

Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked. I spent a night and a day in the open sea. (2 Corinthians 11:25 BSB)

By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. (Hebrews 11:24-25 ESV)

A successful believer may not look like a successful person in the eyes of the world. Let us look at the examples of Moses and Paul.

If you were an observer during the times of Moses, would you not think that Moses was stupid to reject Egyptian royalty? Paul could have been a famous rabbi, like his teacher Gamaliel.

Follow the Rules

Success and failure are amoral. But to be successful, you must obey truth.

For example, if a thief come with a loudspeaker in broad daylight shouting, "I am a thief. I come to steal!" and went on to steal something, he will definitely be caught. He is not following the rules of theft. A good thief will come in the middle of the night and quietly break the locks to steal the valuables. He will not break the rules of theft.

But someone may say, "I like to break the rules because I think out of the box!"

Thinking out of the box is not breaking the rules. Rather, this person is able to see the rules not obvious to others.

Fact And Fiction

"The Arabs never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity."
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Abba Eban 21 December 1973

God Promised There Will Be No Hamas

Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight and was full of violence (חָמָס). (Genesis 6:11 NIV)

The word Hamas in Hebrew means 'violence'. Thus, in Genesis 6:11, God saw that the world was full of Hamas and God sent a flood to destroy the world. But God promised in Isaiah 60:18 that there will be no Hamas.

No longer will violence (חָמָס) be heard in your land, nor ruin or destruction within your borders, but you will call your walls Salvation and your gates Praise. (Isaiah 60:18 NIV)