Sept. 9
Charles Spurgeon · Faith's Checkbook
FEAR HAS ITS PLACE
"Happy is the man that feareth alway" Prov. 28:14
The fear of the Lord is the beginning and the foundation of all true
religion. Without a solemn awe and reverence of God there is no
foothold for the more brilliant virtues. He whose soul does not worship
will never live in holiness.
He is happy who feels a jealous fear of doing wrong. Holy fear looks
not only before it leaps, but even before it moves. It is afraid of
error, afraid of neglecting duty, afraid of committing sin. It fears
ill company, loose talk, and questionable policy. This does not make a
man wretched, but it brings him happiness. The watchful sentinel is
happier than the soldier who sleeps at his post. He who forseeth evil
and escapes it is happier than he who walks carelessly on and is
destroyed.
Fear of God is a quiet grace which leads a man along a choice road, of
which it is written, "No lion shall be there, neither shall any
ravenous beast go up thereon." Fear of the very appearance of evil is a
purifying principle, which enables a man, through the power of the Holy
Spirit, to keep his garments unspotted from the world. In both senses
he that "feareth alway" is made happy. Solomon had tried both
worldliness and holy fear: in the one he found vanity, in the other
happiness. Let us not repeat his trial, but abide by his verdict.