Awe and fear of the Lord.

….What are the things we do or do not do because the Lord despises those things?

In different schools of thought, different things are permissible. That itself speaks for the man made holiness of those teachings.

But the God who made the Universe and every person, animal and thing-seen or unseen- declares Himself to be Holy and who can defy Him? He is Holy. He says anger(without a cause) in the heart is equal to murder. He sure has high standards of Holiness. He demands mercy and justice and not offering. He sure is above all other man made holy gods and schools of thoughts. He defines lusting a woman with the eye as adultery. He sure has unbeatable standards. He defends the fatherless and the widow and the oppressed. He is holy and there is none to compare with Him.

And the very fact that man-defined holiness(be it in moral science, religion or theology) is not holy at all but filthy dung is evident when compared with the “real” God’s holiness.
It is always to our advantage to ask what the God of the Universe wants before doing something.. Because like any rule in the U.S, it is best to be followed and guaranteed to be flawless. Other opinions seem to me like rules in our own home country-which can be twisted, bribed, compromised and even neglected.

So, what is the requirement of the Lord ?
The requirement of the Lord is to live with a clean heart and that requires much more than we are capable of, so we must allow God to help us. If we strive to love the Lord our God with all our heart and all our soul and with all our mind- striving to know Him, His heart, His commandments/ life-giving rules (no fines, no guilt, no accusation, no hell) God Himself will help us because He said, He who seeks will find, and we will find the work of the Maker of our heart continued …to cleanse and beautify like His Own.
And the more we know the Lord, we will see how awe-filling He is and how unworthy of His Love we are.

1 Samuel 24 : 8 onwards(to 21).
When David (before becoming king) was escaping from the then king Saul, he and his supporters hid in a cave. Saul was God’s chosen king but he had failed God and pride had led him to disobey God. God had chosen David to succeed Saul as king and Saul was after David’s life.

In the cave…
“..where there was a cave; and Saul went in to attend to his needs. (David and his men were staying in the recesses of the cave.)” (1 Samuel 24:3)
“Then the men of David said to him, “This is the day of which the LORD said to you, ‘Behold, I will deliver your enemy into your hand, that you may do to him as it seems good to you.’” (1 Samuel 24:4)

The men who “supported” David twisted God’s promise to David to favor their will, but this is what the man whose heart was after God did.

‘And David arose and secretly cut off a corner of Saul’s robe. Now it happened afterward that David’s heart troubled him because he had cut Saul’s robe. ’ (1 Samuel 24:4,5)

David did NOT obey the voices of his friends even though they were the ones who supported him, who were in his favor and in favor of securing his life. Instead, when David’s conscience troubled him, he refused to do as they said. David feared God than man and did not act against his conscience.

“And he said to his men, “The LORD forbid that I should do this thing to my master, the LORD’s anointed, to stretch out my hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the LORD.” So David restrained his servants with these words, and did not allow them to rise against Saul.” (2 Samuel 24:6-7)

David himself knew that Saul, God’s anointed king had failed God and that God had made Samuel (prophet) anoint David as king. But David did not assume God’s will and act against God’s will. For the fear of the Lord, he did not act against his conscience (something we kill and bury in our life).

After Saul gets up from the cave and goes, David follows afterward and tells Saul:
““My lord the king! …….Why do you listen to the words of men who say, ‘Indeed David seeks your harm’? Look, this day your eyes have seen that the LORD delivered you today into my hand in the cave, and someone urged me to kill you. But my eye spared you, and I said, ‘I will not stretch out my hand against my lord, for he is the LORD’s anointed.’ Moreover, my father, see! Yes, see the corner of your robe in my hand! For in that I cut off the corner of your robe, and did not kill you, know and see that there is neither evil nor rebellion in my hand, and I have not sinned against you. Yet you hunt my life to take it. Let the LORD judge between you and me, and let the LORD avenge me on you. But my hand shall not be against you.”

A man who fears the Lord will not do anything against God’s will even though it seems to be correct in his eyes and in the eye of everyone else. Moreover, a man who fears the Lord will be recognized even by his adversary.

Saul who was after David’s life, responds to David’s action with this confession..
“Is this your voice, my son David?” And Saul lifted up his voice and wept. Then he said to David: “You are more righteous than I; for you have rewarded me with good, whereas I have rewarded you with evil. And you have shown this day how you have dealt well with me; for when the LORD delivered me into your hand, you did not kill me. ”

Furthermore, he blesses him!
“Therefore may the LORD reward you with good for what you have done to me this day. And now I know indeed that you shall surely be king, and that the kingdom of Israel shall be established in your hand. Therefore swear now to me by the LORD that you will not cut off my descendants after me, and that you will not destroy my name from my father’s house.”

David who was running away from death, promises not to harm the one who is king.
It is not the one who has power, who is mighty before God, but the one who heeds to God’s voice, who is made mighty by God.