1 – Nehemiah 7:1-2 (ESV) Now when the wall had been built and I had set up the doors, and the gatekeepers, the singers, and the Levites had been appointed, 2 I gave my brother Hanani and Hananiah the governor of the castle charge over Jerusalem, for he was a more faithful and God-fearing man than many.
RAF: Those who do not fear God, certainly will not fear man. Thus trustworthiness is tied to the fear of God. If they are not honest and reliable because they understand the relationship of such things to their God, then there is nothing to prevent them from being unreliable at all. Fear of the Law sure won’t do it. And as our society demonstrates day after day, the further men move away from any sense of personal responsibility before God, the more violent, dishonest and anti-social their behavior becomes. This is not about living in some cowering fear that doubts God’s love and goodness. It is knowing that God is righteous, that He cannot tolerate sin and must judge it – no matter how deeply He loves anyone. And that to be living in sin will ultimately bring us before the judgment bar of God, irrespective of our sins being found out by men in this life.
