Psalm 119:38 Melting Hearts

Fulfill your promise to your servant,so that you may be feared.

Psalm 119:38

One of the chief reasons God had a Chosen People in Old Testament times was to demonstrate to the rest of the world what happens when a people live in a godly way and rely of the One True God (Deuteronmy 28:9-11).

The stories of Israel's repeated failure to live up to that purpose makes up a great deal of the Old Testament. And yet, God's fulfillment of His promises to Israel was noticed by the people of other nations.

In Jericho, Rahab the prostitute talks about it:

Before the spies lay down for the night, she went up on the roof and said to them, “I know that the Lord has given you this land and that a great fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who live in this country are melting in fear because of you. We have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan, whom you completely destroyed. When we heard of it, our hearts melted in fear and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below. 

Joshua 2:8-11 (compare Joshua 5:1)

Nehemiah wrote of the same thing happening during his time:

When all our enemies heard about this, all the surrounding nations were afraid and lost their self-confidence, because they realized that this work had been done with the help of our God.

Nehemiah 6:16

You and I are not citizens of the nation of Israel, and this is not 1500 B.C. But does it still hold true that God's fulfillment of His promises to His people, the church, will strike fear into the hearts and minds of people outside the church?

It did in the 1st century church. You'll recall the story of Ananias and Sapphira, who got together to conspire a plot to cheat the church and get ahead. After they both died, Acts 5:11 notes, "Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events."

But, you may say, I haven't seen anyone dropping dead during the offering time. How does this relate to today, in 2017 A.D.?

The world is still watching to see whether God fulfills His promises to His people. When we claim to our neighbors and co-workers that God is real and that He blesses us, what evidence do they see of that? When we claim to have been changed by our relationship to God, do they see any actual change?

God has promised that the Spirit within His people will produce fruit (Galatians 5:22-23). Do the non-Christians you encounter on the job or online notice that you are actively bearing the fruit of love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control? If they do, they will gain a new respect for our claims about the God who is real.

Doing our part to lay claim to the promises of God is one of the most effective and powerful way of drawing people to Christ. They see how the Lord has changed our lives, and they gain a new respect, or what the people in the Old Testament would have called fear, for God.

It's not about getting what was promised for my own sake, but for God's sake, for the sake of drawing people to Him. The best way to change your approach to God's promises is by praying.

Lord, teach me to eagerly seek the blessings you've promised, so that I will be a magnet, drawing people toward God. Help me to counteract their skepticism with acceptance of who God is.