Reverential fear of God

Hebrews 11:7
“By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.”

Let me go back to the lessons we have been learning from the Heroes of faith in Hebrews Chapter Eleven. We see today something else faith brought to Noah which we easily skip over also because it does sound like a faith word. It is fear. The Scriptures say, “By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear…”. It is easy to skip over this when teaching faith but it is clear by faith Noah moved with fear. 

This however is not the fear that brings bondage, but the reverential fear of God, which is a health fear. This fear is a necessary fear in the life of every believer because it makes you not to take God for granted or get overtly familiar with God that you do not respect Him. 

The Bible says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the Holy is understanding” (Proverbs 9:10; KJV)

“For the reverence and fear of God are basic to all wisdom. Knowing God results in every kind of understanding”. (Living Bible)

What is wisdom? In it’s basic definition it means the application of knowledge. It means knowing what to do in a given situation. Now the Scriptures say the fear of God is basic to that, which means without the fear of God, you probably will start out on the wrong foot. Now you can understand the sequence of our text for meditation. 

Noah did not just go out to prepare the ark because he had faith, no, after the faith came a fear of God that also guided him in knowing what to do. Don’t just move out because you have faith, balance it with a fear of God, and you will never miss with God.