"Do not be afraid"

Saturday August 28, 2021

"Do not be afraid"

If only they still had this same heart to fear me and to keep all my commandments in order to always be happy, them and their children! Deuteronomy 5:29

How many times have we taken hold of this exhortation from the Pope. Rightly so, because fear is negative, passive, without a defined object. It demobilizes, paralyzes, paralyzes by removing all serenity. But we would be wrong to confuse it with fear. Especially with the fear of God. From this, Solomon repeatedly said it is the beginning of wisdom ! We hardly like to cite the texts that recommend it to the point, in some translations, of replacing "to fear" by "to venerate". It is certain that all legitimate and just fear is also reverence. But it's not just that. In our verse, God makes "fear" the practical synonym of keeping His commandments. Observing what God asks of us is the sure fruit of the fear we have of him, that is to say the fear of displeasing him through disobedience, that of missing out on his requirements, but also, let us dare to do so. say, the fear of his just corrections and the punishment he intends for those who resist or challenge him.

There is a lot of emphasis on goodness, the infinite love of God. We are right, but only on condition that we insist at the same time on his infinite justice and holiness which cannot allow him to tolerate evil in any form whatsoever.

Let’s fear God. It is our happiness.

Richard Douliere

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Proposed reading : Book of Deuteronomy, chapter 5, verses 28 to 33.

Source (Live Today)