Let's try fear again

Zechariah 13, 14
Psalm 147
Luke 16

SOAP - Let's try fear again

Scripture
Psalm 147:11 The Lord delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love.

Observation
I was hoping something from Zechariah might make sense to me and stand out, but this whole "fearing the Lord" thing is still on my mind I guess. So, fear of the Lord it is. I think the scripture is pretty straight forward, it makes God happy when our relationship with him is what he wants it to be. There is a healthy amount of fear. And we depend on him and his love to get us thru.

Application
In theory this fear of the Lord keeps us from embracing all the little chances we have to rebel every day. And the big ones too. But it's the little ones that seem to cause me the most trouble. In life we come across things that prove to be harmful to our lives, to our relationship with God and with others. We have evidence that they are harmful and yet we are somehow attracted to them anyway. Even if it's just an attitude, like allowing yourself to be negative all the time instead of being positive. There are tons of things like that that can get me off track. Having a bad attitude is definitely one of them. I wish I could think of more examples, but it seems like I usually don't realize what I'm doing until I've gotten off track and start looking back and think "oh, I see, I shouldn't have done that, I shouldn't be thinking that way". Anyway, I feel like God is telling me that if he is truly real to me, then "fear of the Lord" would prevent some of those times when my attitude gets way off track. I always know God is there. But there haven't been that many times when I felt like he was right there specifically addressing me. But the other night I was embracing the opportunity to be a grouch and it kind of freaked me out because God was definitely there, saying "chill out Kristy, things are not what they seem, calm down and look at this situation again later" (it's not like I heard a voice or anything, but that's the message I that came across). After that experience, at least for now, there is definitely some fear of the Lord in me. I can't believe I was being such a punk that God felt the need to address me directly. And I can't believe that he loves me enough to be willing to be nice to me when I'm showing no signs of a gracious and loving heart. God is so cool. So, in my life I'm still hoping that fear of the Lord and putting my hope in him will start to be a more consistent way of living. Less selfish rebellion, more God. :-)

Prayer
Thank you so much Lord for loving me all the time, even when my response to you is horrible. I love you Lord and I definitely don't always have the right attitude, but I'm excited about the work you are doing in my life and I want to be the person you created me to be. I want to help other people know you and be the people you created them to be too. Thanks for the chance to serve you. Thanks again for your love and also for all the people in this life who also love me even when I'm not being very lovable. Lord please bless our love for each other and our love for you. Amen.