Trembling Hearts

November 4

(Psalm 119:161-165 NIV) “Rulers persecute me without cause, but my heart trembles at your word. {162} I rejoice in your promise like one who finds great spoil. {163} I hate and abhor falsehood but I love your law. {164} Seven times a day I praise you for your righteous laws. {165} Great peace have they who love your law, and nothing can make them stumble.”

(Philippians 2:5-13 NIV) “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: {6} Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, {7} but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. {8} And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-- even death on a cross! {9} Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, {10} that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, {11} and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. {12} Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed--not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence--continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, {13} for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.”

The old saying goes: “Familiarity breeds contempt.” We tend to disrespect people and things we are close to on a daily basis. We tend to treat things we are familiar with as ordinary, overlooking their greatness. The Bible is very accessible in the USA. We average about three Bibles per household, but Scripture reading is at an all time low in the nation. A very small minority read the Bible daily. As a whole, we have become contemptuous of God and His word because it has become so familiar. We no longer tremble at His word. We’ve been so “graced out” that “working out our salvation with fear and trembling” has become a foreign concept. We must recover the awe of God. We need to resuscitate the spirit that would praise the Lord seven times a day. We need to exalt Jesus and His word to the highest place again. A little trembling will not hurt us. -- Friar Tuck’s Word of the Day