What Do You Fear?

What do you fear most? People or God?  In Matt 26  and Matt 27 we find that those who should have had the fear of God were more concerned about the people and their response. The Proverbs writer said it best: “The fear of people is a snare but he who trusts in the Lord will be exalted.”

We know that from eternity past Jesus’ death has been foretold, but it is the religious leaders’ fear that will be the ultimate source of his crucifixion. Into this we see Judas coming to them and saying that he had betrayed innocent blood. The grace of God warns them to stop and take notice of this deed they are considering. Instead of meeting Judas’ need, their fear of the people has become a stronghold, a stumbling block, (a trap stick) and they will seek to heap up their guilt rather than allow the Law and heart to guide forgetting this: Heb 10:31. And so in Matt 26 we find them plotting to find a way to overrule the commandment “thou shalt not kill” and in Matt 27 they are plotting how to get their guilt assuaged through Pilate.

How like us!

We know we are wrong but won’t admit it because the enemy of our souls has sought to use the argument “if you do this, the people will hate you; if you speak of Jesus and you will be ostracized, you might even lose your job; you might even lose your head. Yet we fall for the words of the enemy dripping with sarcasm and lies.

Beware of the enemy and his tactics lest you fall into temptation and the end is worse than the beginning.