PRÉCIS ON THE IMPORTANCE OF OBEDIENCE: A CODICIL TO THE CITIES OF REFUGE PROMISE

SCRIPTURE. “He has given food and provision to those who reverently and worshipfully fear Him; He will remember His covenant forever and imprint it [on His mind].” – PSALM 111:5, AMPC

KEY TERM: “FEAR.” ‘Yare’ [לִֽירֵאָ֑יו]: “From a root term meaning, ‘Moral Reverence;’ to be properly afraid [i.e., to fear the consequences of doing evil]; fear is an uneasiness of mind, upon the thought of future evil likely to befall us; the passion of our nature which excites us to provide for our security, on the approach of evil.”

QUOTATION. “The remarkable thing about God is that when you Fear God, you fear nothing else, whereas if you do not Fear God, you fear everything else.” ― OSWALD CHAMBERS, Author, My Utmost for His Highest, 1935; edited

COMMENTARY. “‘He hath given meat’ — All necessary Provisions for their being and well-being; ‘unto them that fear Him’ —To the Israelites, the only people in the world that feared and worshipped the True God according to His Will, and especially to those among them that truly feared Him, and, for their sakes, to the body of that Nation, as well in the Wilderness as in their following straits and miseries. 

‘He will ever be’ — Or, ‘He hath ever been, mindful of His covenant’ —Which He made with Abraham, and with His seed forever; whereby He engaged to be their God, and to provide all Necessaries for them. ‘He hath showed’ —Not only by His Words, but by His actions; ‘the power of His works’ —His mighty power in His works, and especially, as it here follows, in giving them the Heritage of the heathen, the Land of Canaan, which had been possessed and inherited by the heathen.” – JOSEPH BENSON, Notes on the Holy Bible, 5 vols., 1811-1818; edited

DK’S TAKE. This Lesson is first grade level simple, but of doctoral graduate school level importance: ‘TO FEAR GOD IS TO OBEY GOD! It is the very Core of Christ’s Highest Commandment to: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind” (Matthew 22:37, New King James).

I have labored to say this so many times in so many different ways: Jesus will not accept half-hearted devotion. He simply will not, cannot, nor ever shall, beloved. You either belong totally, radically to Him and His Will, or you do not belong to Him at all.

I Conclude with a superb statement of this Doctrinal Truth by DR. JAMES MERRITT, former President of the Southern Baptist Convention.

“To fear God is to obey God. That is why in Ecclesiastes Solomon wrote, ‘Fear God and keep His commandments.’ Fear of God and obedience to God are connected. The order here is important. You will not get to know God by obeying Him; you obey God because you get to know Him.” – “Fear and Obedience,” Touching Lives, Sep. 13, 2023; edited

LESSON: ‘God only Prrotects and Provides for those who Fear and Obey Him!’ We good, boys and girls? ¡Entonces, muy bien mis Compañeros Pelotones!