The book of Proverbs is mostly written by King Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived. He’s speaking to his son, giving him wisdom that can help his son make good decisions in the future. Proverbs is not a small book. This Dad has a lot to say to his son. As a parent I know to try to keep things short and sweet. If you get a lecture going chances are good the child or teen is going to space off and not catch much. They’ll probably remember the first thing you said and maybe the last thing you said and everything else will be wasted breath unless it’s about something they really care about.
So the first thing the wisest man who ever lived, the king, said to his son must be important. It must be something he didn’t want his son to miss. It was interesting to me that the first thing Solomon said to his son was, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.” (Proverbs 1:7) Solomon starts with the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. The fear of the Lord. Hmm…that makes me wonder what exactly is the fear of the Lord. This scripture points it to the beginning of knowledge. It must be significant.
Since we are studying fear I knew I needed to put fear of the Lord in here because it’s all over scripture. So what is fear of the Lord? Let’s actually start with what it’s not. It’s not terror or trembling. It’s not a sense of dread or a feeling that you need to leave now.
To have fear of the Lord is to have awe and reverence for Him above anything or anyone else. It’s when we have the utmost respect for Him. When you are taking God seriously. This is a continuous thing, not a one time fear like when you hear a loud noise and jump. When you fear God you understand God for who He is, His character and it shows in how you live. You understand His position, His power, His might and you respect it. When you fear God you walk in His ways with your life, what you do, how you live, your lifestyle, your actions. You let God set the standard for your life. You listen to Him, believe Him, obey Him, go to Him for guidance like you would a loving Father. You trust Him. When you have fear of the Lord you live in the light of His presence.
Those who don’t live with the fear of the Lord will take Him casually. They’ll throw His name around as if they know Him one minute, like thanking Him for something, then spout out curse words or indecent jokes the next. This is the opposite of taking God seriously.
So having the fear of the Lord isn’t just a feeling but it’s action. You can tell if someone fears the Lord by the way they live. Those who fear the Lord do so out of highest regard for the Lord, it’s not motivated by dread or terror.
When you live in fear of the Lord, that is you have a right relationship with the Lord, you will stay away from evil. When we think of evil we can put it in a small box and just think of demons and witchcraft as evil but really evil is far broader than that. The Webster’s Dictionary says evil is anything morally wrong or bad. It also says evil causes harm. So adultery is evil but so is gossip, stealing…I think you get the idea. This really widens the scope of what evil is. With that in mind let’s rethink the things we watch, what we say, how we interact with each other. The Lord wants us to turn away from evil.
Proverbs 16:6, “Through love and faithfulness sin is atoned for; through the fear of the Lord a man avoids evil.”
Proverbs 3:7 “Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and shun evil.”
Job 28:28 “And he said to the man, ‘The fear of the Lord-that is wisdom, and to shun evil is understanding.”
Here are just three examples that when we live in the fear of the Lord we will put away evil in our life. It’s not that we’re running away from it in terror, it just doesn’t interest us. It has no place in our life anymore.
There are many benefits to having the fear of the Lord. The first one is in the Proverbs we just talked about. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.” (Proverbs 1:7) So the benefit is knowledge and wisdom. When you have knowledge you have a better understanding of things. When you have wisdom you have the ability to apply spiritual truths to real life. Fearing the Lord is the start to having both of these. It says it again in Isaiah 33:6 says, “He will be the sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the Lord is the key to this treasure.”
Another benefit of fearing the Lord is the Lord protects you. “The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them.” Psalm 34:7 Following the Lord will help you make decisions that will put you on a better path. It will keep you out of trouble and even help things to go well with you. The Lord will deliver you. These are promises from God’s word.
One of my favorite benefits of fearing the Lord is that you have a place to go with worries, fears, life’s trials or when you just don’t know what to do. The Lord is there to listen and guide you. He speaks to us all the time through His word, music, other people and just plain talking to us by the Holy Spirit. All your worries and fears just melt away. The Lord gives answers to questions or life’s problems. He doesn’t always answer right away. Sometimes He wants us to just trust Him, sometimes He is teaching us but always He is there for us. No matter if He answers you right away or not you can give your cares to Him and He will give you peace. It’s a beautiful thing. It saves you from mental agony, health problems, wasted time in pacing and worrying. The benefits of following the Lord, that is the fear of the Lord, are definitely many. But I don’t fear the Lord because of how it benefits me. I love Him because He first loved me and laid down His life for me. I hope you have done the same. If not, now is a good time to start.
Shining the Love of Jesus 