Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.
– Ecclesiastes 12:13
There it is. The whole duty of man. What a verse! The whole responsibility of your life, the whole purpose for your life, which obviously is expressed in different ways all throughout Scripture, but they all come back to this overall theme.
Ecclesiastes 12:13 teaches the true purpose of life.
Fear God and keep his commandments. That’s your duty in life. So just bring that into today. That’s your duty before God, your responsibility, your privilege to know God, to walk with God, to worship God, to fear God, and keep his commandments. It’s what you’re here for. That’s what I’m here for. That’s the wise life. Ecclesiastes is a part of wisdom literature, and you think about all the times in Proverbs where we read that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
So fear God, keep his commandments. And then you think about it. I mentioned this as expressed in different ways and at different points in Scripture. Jesus says, Hey, the first greatest commandment is what? To love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. It’s the same picture. Live to love God, to know God, to revere God, to worship God, to fear God, to center your life around God, and obedience to him doing whatever he says to do in his Word, doing whatever he leads you to do by his Spirit. This is life!
Ecclesiastes 12:13 pictures a life centered on God, not self.
And so we pray, God, help us to do our duty. Help us to fear you. Teach us to fear you. Lead us to fear. You humble us to fear you, to revere you, to worship you. God, we want to worship you, love you with all our soul, mind, and strength. We want to center everything we do around you.
God, we pray that you would free us. Forgive us from self-centered living and help us to live centered on you today and your love for us. Help us to abide in your love for us, knowing you love us so much. You’ve managed your children. You’ve sent your son to die on a cross for us, so help us to love you, abide in your love for us, and obey you. God, help us to obey your Word, your commandments, all day long, all day long, God and every thought, every desire, every word, everything we do, help us to obey you. Help us to obey the leadership of your Spirit in our lives today. Help us to fear you. Obey your commandments. God, we want to obey your commandment, to make disciples of all the nations. Help us to obey that commandment today.
Prayer for the Kuravan People
God, we pray today for the spread of your grace and your glory, the gospel to the Kuravan people of India for half a million of the Kuravan people. God, please cause the good news of your grace and your love and your mercy to spread to them that they might fear you and know you and love you, and abide in your love and obey your commandments and experience life. Oh God, help us to fulfill our duty in life today to fear you and obey your commandments by the power of your Spirit in us. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
David Platt serves as a Lead Pastor for McLean Bible Church. He is also the Founder of Radical, an organization that makes Jesus known among the nations.
David received his B.A. from the University of Georgia and M.Div., Th.M., and Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Some of his published works include Radical, Radical Together, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Don’t Hold Back, and How to Read the Bible.
He lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area with his wife and children.
