Do we fear God’s Authority?

By Odon Bulamba (7th June 2002)

Jeremiah chapter 5:22-23, “Should you not fear Me? Declares the Lord. “Should you not tremble in my presence? I made the sand a boundary for the sea, an everlasting barrier it cannot cross. The waves may roll, but they cannot prevail; they may roar, but they cannot cross it. But these people have stubborn and rebellious hearts: they have turned aside and gone away”.

Here we see that God reminds us about His authority, and while doing that He asks us a question, “do you acknowledge My authority?” He asks us this because sometimes as human beings we forget about God’s authority. We forget God because He is far from us and we neglect Him, and as human beings we want to have authority over Him.

Why am I saying this? God helped me this morning to find this passage and He showed me certain things that are happening in everyday life. From time to time we forget God’s authority. We might acknowledge that God exists and we sometimes remember that God’s eye is on us, but we completely forget that His authority exists.

What does God’s authority mean? Who can answer what is God’s authority? The Word of God? What represents God’s authority? I really believe that in the time of the Israelites, the time of David and even now in the time of the Queen, people can go before a King and show that he or she has an authority. It is true that a king wears a crown on his head that gives him a certain authority, and is always respected because he is called a king. If Michael becomes the Prime Minister of New Zealand, automatically a certain authority will come on him.

The authority of God is firstly in His name. His name represents a certain authority, and the name of God as we know is Jesus Christ. The Devil and his demons and everyone else on this earth respect this name, and if you mention the name of Jesus Christ before an evil spirit he will respect it. To acknowledge the name of God means a certain authority.

So what does it mean to acknowledge God’s name? Today people call me Odon, but what does Odon mean? If you call me Odon but don’t know the meaning, what good is it? When a child is given a name it has some significance and it has a meaning. If you read all the names in the Bible that are related to God they have a meaning and they give Him a certain authority. We talk about El Shaddai, Elohim and other names that represent God’s authority. As Christians we confess Him everyday but what does El Shaddai teach us? What is the power that is in this name?

God told me this morning, you know my names but you don’t know how to use them. I said to the Lord, how can you explain that Lord, He said, it is because you don’t meditate, if you meditate you would know how much authority is in this name. So this is the first point on how to acknowledge God’s authority.

The Lord continues by saying don’t you tremble before my presence. God told me that sometimes we don’t tremble before Him. If there is an earthquake in this country everybody will tremble and be afraid. When we drive, we fear when the police pull us up, and if you are in an area where it is not safe and you are alone, you fear. God asked me, “why aren’t you trembling before me, if you can be afraid before the police why aren’t you afraid before me”? Sometimes when it is raining and lightening, people are very scared. So why do we tremble? We tremble because we are afraid. If we don’t tremble before God it means we don’t fear Him and the fear of God doesn’t exist in us. And why do we have to tremble before God?

It is because He is our King and everyone has to control his or her behaviour around a king. But before God we don’t even control ourselves. Sometimes we preach and pray when we are not clean and we come before the face of the Lord dirty. God thinks we treat Him as if He is a toy or an object.

A friend in Hamilton went to town one day and because he was very tired he took a taxi. He asked the driver to take him to Odon’s and asked the taxi man how much will it cost? The taxi man replied $70. Because my friend didn’t know that it was according to the time he gave the taxi man $70. While they were driving my friend told the taxi man that God loves him. The taxi man said I know that because I have been a Christian for 15 years. My friend said praise God that there is a Christian taxi driver; I will tell everyone that I have found a taxi driver that is a Christian. The taxi man said, “no this is an accusation”. My friend asked why? The taxi man said he felt guilty because he asked him for $70 instead of counting the minutes. So my friend asked him if he is supposed to count the minutes and he said yes, we count the minutes. My friend asked him, so why didn’t you count the minutes and he said because I don’t fear God, but now that you reminded me about Jesus, I fear Him.

As Christians we have to fear God, and if you do you will live a long life. When the fear of God is in you, you will be blessed in all your actions and God will be by your side. God says that the sand is there to limit the ocean. We know that the sea has huge waves but it never crosses its border. We know that huge waves can take away mountains but they cannot move the sand.

What does God want to teach us through this? We have to be like the sand that is on the beach. The sun can try to dry out the sand but as soon as the waves come, the sand is wet again and the sand that is on the beach never makes the water impure. If you leave footprints on the beach, as soon as a wave comes, it will wash them away. This means that as long as we live on this earth, we might have some spiritual or material problems, but when the Word of God comes on us, it covers everything and puts us back to normal. When a situation has large waves and problems and we fear God, He will be our solution.