Fearing Man

Reading for Today: Proverb Chapter 29

Gold Nugget
Verse 25: “The fear of man brings a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD shall be safe.”

Commentary

What is the fear of man and how does it relate to your safety? Imagine being in a sticky situation at work. You made a small error in your job that had massive effects. You cost your company thousands of dollars, but nobody really knows who did it. You know there isn't any way anyone could find out who did it. All you have to do is deny it was you, knowing that there isn't any way to identify what happened. You have a free pass. Some folks would say that it was a gift from God that you were able to avoid harm, but a mature Christian knows better. As today’s “gold nugget” says, “The fear of man brings a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD shall be safe.” This brings us back to the original question. Your fear of man (the fear of your boss in this case) is making you want to lie for your safety. There are many situations that will fall into this scenario. Maybe it is the jokes your boss tells that you laugh at when you wouldn't normally. Maybe your father-in-law challenges you in a spiritual area that you may be afraid to take your normal stance against. We may have to use our imagination a little, but if you think about it, you will see how the fear of man or maybe peers will cause us to compromise our beliefs. In that, we allow ourselves to be caught in the snare mentioned in today’s “gold nugget”. It may be difficult, but we have to cling to the truth of the latter part of this verse, “but whoever trusts in the LORD shall be safe.” This is to say, whoever will stay faithful and stand on truth despite any repercussions, God will surely keep us safe. We may fear losing our paycheck, but God will keep us fed. As a matter of fact, if we lied about costing the company money, we may survive that day, but when other areas of our life start to fall apart, we foolishly don’t make the connection between reaping and sowing. Be sure that whatever it will cost you to avoid the wrath of man will not compare to what it will cost you to bring on the wrath of God. Consider what Jesus said in Matthew 10:28 “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”

Prayer

Lord, in our day to day life we find ourselves in situations where our fear of man will cost us in our relationship with you. Help us to see clearly what is at stake and walk boldly in the truth. We would rather avoid your wrath than the wrath of man. Even without your wrath, we would rather be at peace with you than at peace with man.  Amen

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