Daily Devotional For Friday, April 24, 2026
Good morning Southside. Thank you for joining us for today’s devotional. Our text for today is from Proverbs 29:25:
“The fear of man brings a snare, But he who trusts in the Lord will be exalted” (NASB).
If you have been reading these devotionals this past week, they have been from the Book of Proverbs. As you have noticed, most of these are what we call contrasting Proverbs, where the second line is a contrast of the first line. The Proverb stresses that righteousness is not the result of human works, but faith. Do you have this kind of faith to live only for the audience of One – the Lord? Do you have this kind of faith to give up worrying about what others think about you and your relationship to Christ?
For example, when you come to Sunday morning worship, do you come uninhibited in your worship? Or, do you worry what others might think if you actually sang with passion, raised your hands or even clapped? Is pleasing others more important to you than your relationship to the Lord? This has been the downfall or Achilles' Heel in some in Scripture: Abraham, Isaac, Moses, Aaron, Elijah, Saul and Peter.
The bottom line is we either believe God is in control or others are in control. When we fear what others may say or do, we attribute the structure and maintenance of order to them. This is the opposite of trust in the Lord. The godly, the faithful, do what David says in Psalm 56:11. Fear leads to panic and panic leads to entrapment by that fear. Panicked people act irrationally. This is why we should always put our trust in the “Great I Am.” People who panic and act irrationally will experience God’s judgment. Look at the example of King Saul in 1 Samuel 13:8-14 and 1 Samuel 15:10-29. The one who trusts in the Great I Am will be protected according to Proverbs 18:10-11.
This Proverb presses us to trust the Lord no matter what. That is the solution to our fear – trusting God, not in ourselves, not in others, not in the government and not in the church. Our fear of punishment or retaliation from friends who pressure us to not trust the Lord will be met by punishment from the Lord for failing to trust Him. The first part of this Proverb implies getting caught in a fatal situation. Panic-stricken by what others might do to him, he cowardly yields himself to their depraved dictates to please them and incurs God’s wrath.
Trust in Yahweh is incompatible with fear. Why? Because He is the Great I AM and whoever relies for safety on Yahweh knows he is safe indeed. I am not attempting to downplay legitimate fear. What this Proverb is reminding us of is when fear enslaves us, controls us and rules our lives, then we have no trust in God. That is the point of 1 John 4:18. We should not seek danger nor fear it. As the Apostle Paul writes in Philippians 1:21, we gain either way.The word translated as “fear” in Proverbs 29:25 is the Hebrew word [חֲרָדָה, cherat] and this word refers to “trembling.” Old Testament scholar Roland E. Murphy explains it this way:
“It could be anxiety about one’s own person (self-paralysis) or fear of another. It points to uncertainty and a susceptibility to be easy prey to the desires of oneself or of another” (Source: Roland E. Murphy, Proverbs, Vol. 22, p. 223).
So, which causes you to tremble more? Fear of the Lord or fear of your family and friends to do what God asks of you? As I have said in some of these devotionals, there is no fear of the Lord today, even in the church. This fear keeps us humble and obedient. We do not fear the Lord because we do not know Him and we want to be our own god. We see God as some doting old grandfather who is not interested in our choices and thus indirectly approves them, even sinful ones. We can never have spiritual wisdom without fear of the Lord (Pr. 9:10).
Reflection Assignment: Be honest with God and yourself right now. Who do you fear more? The Lord or what others think? If you say, “The Lord,” what is the proof? When you worship, do you restrain yourself or are you all in it? Do you live for the audience of One? When we read Scripture, we have examples where some of God’s people feared the opinions of others more than the Lord. We see the consequences they paid for this. What consequences have you paid for fearing others or doubting more than the Lord? What have you learned from this that will make you do differently the next time?
Scripture To Meditate On: Proverbs 28:25, “An arrogant man stirs up strife, But he who trusts in the Lord will prosper” (NASB).
Prayer To Pray: “Dear Lord, I want to fear and tremble before You more than before others. Lord, I want to honor You with my decisions and choices. I want to live for an audience of One – You. I do not want to be so arrogant that I live a life of self-idolatry. Please help me to do this. I love You Lord. In Jesus’ name, Amen!”
I love you Southside! – Pastor Kelly