The Fear of God

741 Today's Prime Time Devo comes from 1Ki 1:49-51, “So all the guests who were with Adonijah were afraid, and arose, and each one went his way. 50 Now Adonijah was afraid of Solomon; so he arose, and went and took hold of the horns of the altar. 51 And it was told Solomon, saying, "Indeed Adonijah is afraid of King Solomon; for look, he has taken hold of the horns of the altar, saying, 'Let King Solomon swear to me today that he will not put his servant to death with the sword.'" (1 King 1: 49-51) Whenever you read the Bible, be sure to say a prayer asking the Holy Spirit for understanding as you read. And as you read, one of the things you should be looking for is words that are repeated. In this portion of Scripture the word “afraid,” shows up three times!he guests, (those who were in cahoots with Adonijah were afraid. And Adonijah was deathly afraid. Matthew Henry had this to say about this portion of scripture: “ He (Adonijah) had despised Solomon as not worthy to be his guest (1Ki 1:10), but now he dreads him as his judge:” Let that sink in for awhile. Those who oppose Christ and His kingdom, those who snub Christ away in this lifetime will shortly be made to tremble before Him on Judgment Day! Have you been snubbing Jesus? Do you not fear what that will mean to you on Judgment Day! Let me tell you what I am afraid of. I am afraid that far too often, only the “Mr Nice Guy Jesus” is preached and taught in the church today. When that truth is OVER-EMPHASIZED, people have a tendency to mistake that goodness for a “get out of jail free card,” and there is no trembling because, “after all, what loving God would send any person to hell?” Adonijah and his followers were afraid because they knew that the King had the power to put them to death, and we need to have that same kind of respect. Some people surely need to hear the sweet gospel, but some also need to have the very hell scared out of them. How did Jesus put it? Lu 12:5 "But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear Him who, after He has killed, has power to cast into hell; yes, I say to you, fear Him! Father, thank You for Your love, but let us not forget that You are also a just God!