Read: PSALM 128

When you are lying in bed and can’t fall asleep, what occupies your attention? Your retirement savings? Your kids’ choices? That unfortunate interaction at work yesterday? Our worries help us to see what we fear.

The psalmist writes, “Happy is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in his ways” (v. 1). He implies that to fear the Lord is the same as walking in the ways of the Lord. In other words, whomever or whatever we fear directs the decisions we make and the steps we take. If we fear other human beings, if we fear the gods of success or wealth or any other idol, our lives will be marked by sorrow. If we “fear” God and walk with God, our lives will be marked by happiness, fruit, and blessing.

To fear God is to revere and respect God, to live according to God’s ways, to live in abundance.

Lord, may I so deeply understand your love for me that I fear you and walk in your ways all the days of my life. AMEN.