Jeremiah 32:39-40 “I will give them singleness of heart and action, so that they will always fear me and that all will then go well for them and for their children after them.  I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never stop doing good to them, and I will inspire them to fear me, so that they will never turn away from me.”

This promise of God combines two things that we tend to think of as antithetical to each other: fear and happiness. Actually, English translations don’t use “happiness,” but that is the most common translation for the word used in the Japanese. It carries strong overtones of blessing and good, and those words are used in English for this passage. This shows one of the chief benefits of reading the Bible in multiple languages, because translation is very seldom  a matter of direct equivalence, and I doubt that anyone today understands perfectly the nuances of all the words used when the Bible was written, in whatever language. Whatever language we’re using, we need to remember that God’s Word is deeper and higher than any merely human language, or even human thought. (Isaiah 55:8-9) It’s one of His many miracles that He expresses His thoughts to us in ways we can grasp. To get back to this passage, it actually expresses something that is repeated in various ways throughout the Bible: God’s plans for us are for our good. We tend to doubt that and rebel any time His plans differ from ours, but that’s just human stupidity. It we fail to fear Him, we aren’t likely to obey Him! I’m reminded of something Dennis Prager has said. In his many years of being a radio talk show host, he asked countless people who had never used drugs, why they hadn’t. The answer was consistent: “My mother would have killed me.” That’s precisely the kind of fear we’re talking about here. If children don’t fear their parents’ discipline, they’re very likely to go astray, and bear the consequences of that. This is no excuse for child abuse, but these days, almost any kind of discipline is labeled as abuse, and that’s a lie of the devil. It sounds contradictory, but we need to fear our parents, and God, in order to love them and receive the good they desire for us.

My parents weren’t perfect, but they did a pretty good job. Neither I nor any of my siblings got into drugs, though we did stray in some other ways. My wife and I likewise didn’t do a perfect job by any means, but our daughters turned out OK. Human parenting pales in comparison to Father God, naturally enough. I was taught about God from infancy, but I don’t think I feared Him enough. However, God has been faithful to guide as well as guard me over the years, and I think I fear Him far more now than I ever did in my youth. The interesting thing is, I also love Him far more than I did! I have learned that you can’t separate love and devotion for Him from deep respect and awe. My awareness of Him should scare the sin out of me! When I fear Him properly, there is absolutely nothing else I need to fear, and I’m grateful.

Father, thank You for this reminder. Thank You for Your continuing, overflowing grace toward me. It’s a very minor thing, but thank You for arranging my schedule so that I was able to watch the 10^th Starship test launch live yesterday. That really blessed me! Thank You for all the big and small things You do for and through me. May I be fully yielded to You in active obedience, so that Your plans may be fulfilled on Your schedule for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!