Reverence by Joseph Clarke

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Apr 29, 1875

Reverence.

By Joseph Clarke

WHEN Ahab, that very wicked king of Israel, was severely denounced by Elijah (see 1 Kings 21: 17-27), it is said of him, that he rent his clothes, put sackcloth upon his loins, fasted, lay in sackcloth, and went softly; and the Lord was moved by his repentance to delay the threatened judgments till Ahab's death (see verse 29). This great favor shows that God highly esteems those who cultivate and exercise reverence for him, and for his word and his people; and although the Bible gives no encouragement that Ahab's repentance transformed his character, so as to fit him for Heaven, it at least won for him a life-long reprieve and delayed the execution of judgment.

For want of reverence, Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, were, with their families and effects, swallowed up in the yawning earth. We read of a similar instance in Jeremiah 36: 23. A message from God to a wicked king, was contemptuously cut in pieces and thrown into the fire; and in verse 24, we are informed that they were not afraid, nor rent their garments; therefore, God denounced greater judgments against them. (See verses 27-32.)

The best evidence of true reverence is a genuine, deep, unaffected humility, pervading the whole framework of the character; while the opposite trait of irreverence is manifested by acts of pride. Irreverent behavior is expected from the wicked and profane; but the least act of pride on the part of Christians becomes irreverence and profanity. Still there is something in irreverence distinct from pride, that may reveal itself in careless acts of levity, or in sallies of wit or irony, when too often or improperly used.

But rules fail in some points of Christian deportment; for such is the call for irony sometimes in this struggle of life, that it cannot be suppressed; but the humble child of God, who walks by faith and has the inspiration of the Spirit, will not be irreverent or profane; for he lives near to God and cultivates meekness and love.

We should walk softly before God, and carefully and prayerfully seek for grace and wisdom from above. We should seek righteousness in all the humble, as well as the higher, walks of Christian life. We should seek meekness also; for this is a test of scholarship in the school of Christ.

Irreverence is shocking to the warm-hearted, loving Christian, and its opposite, reverence, is comforting and strengthening to the soul of the true-hearted child of God. He who reverences God most will also, in the same degree, love and esteem his fellow-man. With deep reverence for God in the soul, we will take an interest in the meanest child of Adam, with whom we are compelled to associate in the common walks of life; and the same tender love by which God has subdued our wayward hearts, we shall manifest in all the walks of life, and even the most erring will be won by our sympathy and tender care.

But we must leave our subject only touched upon. Dear reader, will you finish it practically in your life? JOSEPH CLARKE.