"Fearless and Comforted" -2

"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me." (Psalms 23:4) Proverbs 1:7 says, "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction". The point of which, is that the fear of the LORD is the chief part of the knowledge of who God is and what is expected of us; in other words, if you find yourself lacking the knowledge of God and His instructions, then you need to start fearing Him as you should!!! That said; when we fear God and are trusting in His Devine Favour, then there is absolutely nothing this world can do to us that will cause fear to overcome us. Do you believe this? That is not a rhetorical question, but one that should make you think about the 'What If' questions of life, and whether or not you would stand the test. Although, even the strongest of His saints have their moments of doubt, the purest test goes to the surrender of this life, and if indeed we cherish this life more than we think we do. Do you think that a desire that a person has for this life might be associated with how much they fear the Lord? In other words; that our lack of fear for the Lord will contribute to a lack of faith in His protection, and therefore we do not know if what we are going through is judgement or not for our lack of fearing Him. This is why we are to instructed in 2 Corinthians 7:1, where Paul says, "Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God". Those promises that Paul was referring to, were that we have been changed into the likeness of Jesus Christ, and that we are sons and daughters of the Father (long story short); and because we are His sons and daughters, we can walk in the knowledge of Him caring for us as such. The rod and the staff of the Shepherd is meant to be for giving us comfort, not for discipline; but when the sheep become unruly, then the Shepherd will do what He needs to do to correct them. The "fools" spoken of by Solomon are those that mock when guilty, as if it is not such a big deal when we sin; because after all, we are not perfect, and God will always forgive us. This must not be our attitude before the Lord; and if it has become that in our life, then we need to have it corrected by any means possible! The greatest feeling that we can know, is that of total peace and comfort in God's hand of protection upon our life; it is a peace that passes all understanding and normal response to evil that might come against us; and that peace is only available to us when His rod and His staff are a comfort to us; the rod and staff being His Word and His Spirit... "We then, as workers together with Him, beseech you also that ye receive not the Grace of God in vain." (2 Corinthians 6:1)