Do You Recognize the Truth? - QUALITIES NEEDED TO RECOGNIZE THE TRUTH - Continue

 Fear of Jehovah.  When we have cultivated proper fear of Jehovah, we love him so much that we would never do anything to displease him. We are eager to learn the difference between right and wrong, between truth and falsehood, so that we can gain Jehovah's approval. (Proverbs 2:3-6; Hebrews 5:14) We must never allow our fear of man to become greater than our love for Jehovah, since what pleased humans often displeases Jehovah.

If we were to fear humans more than we fear God, we could be led away from the truth. Consider the example of the 12 chieftains who spied out the land that Jehovah had promised to give to the Israelites. For ten of the spies, their fear of Canaanites was stronger than their love for Jehovah. They told their fellow Israelites: "We are not able to go up against these people, because they are stronger than we are." (Numbers 13:27-31) From a human standpoint, the Canaanites were stronger than the Israelites-that part was true. But to say that the Israelites would not be able to conquer their enemies left Jehovah out of the picture. Those ten spies should have focused on what Jehovah wanted the Israelites to do. They should have also meditated on what he had done for them in the recent past. Then they would have realized that the strength of the Canaanites was nothing in comparison to Jehovah's mighty power. Unlike those faithless spies, Joshua and Caleb wanted to have Jehovah's approval.  They told the people: "If Jehovah is pleased with us, he will certainly bring us into this land and give it to us." -  NUMBERS 14:6-9.

Next time: Do You Recognize the Truth? - QUALITIES NEEDED TO RECOGNIZE THE TRUTH - Conclusion