Out of the Ditch

“My covenant with Levi was to give life and peace. I kept my covenant with him, and he honored me. He stood in reverent awe before me. He taught the truth and did not lie. He walked with me in peace and uprightness. He kept many out of the ditch, kept them on the road.”

Malachi 2:5-6, MSG

It seems fear of the Lord has me in its grip for 2024. Let’s spend the week seeing what the book of Malachi has to say about a fearful attitude. How in the world do we live in the fear of the Lord?

Malachi is that little book that bridges the Old and New Testaments. Things were not going well in 430 BC. The people of God had suffered through seventy years of Babylon and returned to rebuild (538 BC). But the leadership, the ones who should have set the example, had not. So God chose Malachi to paint the picture of His displeasure.

The standard for reverence or fear of the Lord was set way back with Levi, God’s man to lead His church in that day. God would give life and peace to His people. Levi would honor God, and by inference lead the people to do likewise.

How did Levi honor God? Three ways:

1.He stood in reverent awe before the Lord.

2.He not only taught truth but set the example by not lying himself.

3.He walked in peace and uprightness.

The new covenant of Christ is no different in its promise of life and peace to all who believe. It behooves us then to honor God in the same three ways—standing in reverent awe, teaching and living truth, and walking in peace and uprightness.

Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest March 17, calls this perfecting holiness in the fear of God (2 Corinthians 7:1, KJV). “It means holding ourselves to the highest priority year in and year out…seeking only ‘to be well pleasing to Him.’” Keep your eyes glued on Jesus!

Then we too can hope that we, our family, our friends and neighbors will remain on the road, out of the ditch.

Nancy P

All Scripture quotations are from the NIV 1973, 1978, 1984, unless otherwise noted.