Blessings Flow When Couples 'Fear the Lord'

Barry R. Leventhal, Ph.D.

God has designed three purposes for all Christian marriages (Genesis 1:27-28): to reflect His image, to reign in spiritual warfare, and to reproduce a godly heritage. Without a proper fear of the Lord, not one of these three purposes can be sustained and achieved in the ultimate sense. Many Christians think that the fear of the Lord is just an ancient Old Testament concept that has now been terminated in light of the final New Testament revelation. But this is not so. The New Testament also applies the fear of the Lord to our individual and corporate lives (see Matthew 10:28; Acts 9:31; 2 Corinthians 5:11, 7:1; Ephesians 5:21; 1 Peter 2:17). It is to be our normative response to God’s person and work.

 

So what does the fear of the Lord actually mean? The fear of the Lord does not mean the same thing as being afraid of God and therefore running from Him (see John 3:16; 1 John 4:16-19). Quite the contrary, the fear of the Lord means loving God for all that He is and all that He has done by joyfully giving Him our total allegiance, submission, and obedience. The fear of the Lord does not cause us to run away from Him. It causes us to run to Him!

 

So what does it mean to experience the fear of the Lord and therefore, as a consequence, His blessing upon our marriages and families? For without the fear of the Lord, His blessing will not rest upon our marriages and families. And His three purposes for our marriages will utterly fail. In Psalm 128, the old and wise King Solomon laid out three foundational truths on the fear of the Lord and how we can experience His blessing upon our marriages and families.

 

Foundational Truth #1: The blessing of God rests upon those who fear the Lord by walking in His ways (Psalm 128:1):

 

"How blessed is everyone who fears the LORD, who walks in His ways."

 

To begin with, <

em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">the fear of the Lord means to walk in God’s ways. Each of us in our marriages is on a journey, a walk with God. This is more than just knowing the truth and being able to recite it. It is a personal lifestyle-response to the triune God and His infallible Word. It is to be our normative response to His matchless grace by developing an intimate, personal relationship with Him and following Him in His calling to be His disciples. This alone is where His blessing can be discovered ? nowhere else!