Proverbs 28:14 – “Happy is the man who is always reverent, But he who hardens his heart will fall into calamity.”
One man in the Bible is mentioned a few times for having a hardened heart: the Egyptian Pharaoh who repeatedly rejected Moses’ pleas to release the people of Israel who were in slavery.
Pharaoh’s stubbornness definitely ended in calamities and troubles for himself and for his nation. Easy to see how we can also fall into trouble when we harden our hearts to what God is asking us to do – or not to do.
In other versions, the word “happy” is substituted by the word “blessed”. So we can say that we are happy because we are blessed. And for us to be blessed and happy we need to revere and fear the Lord. Do everything that pleases Him and avoid everything that leads us to sin against Him.
Today the world talks so much talk about achieving happiness. But the world’s definition of happiness or how to achieve it, is different from God’s. For us, we can start achieving happiness when we fear and serve God.
So here we have very clear and distinct opposites: on one side, being reverent which will make us happy; on the other, being stubborn and hardhearted which will bring trouble and disaster into our lives and to those around us.
It is a blessing to fear the Lord. The Bible says that “ The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” (Proverbs 9:10). Therefore, continue to fear the Lord, and be happily blessed!
