As we study the scriptures we begin to discover what it means to place our full trust in God. The following scriptures speak about the “fear” of the Lord and what will result when we have a trusting respect for His authority.
Let’s keep in mind that when we see this word “fear”, we can use it interchangeably with “revere” or with “respect”.
With this in mind, I start to think of this idea of “fearing God” like I do fire. I have a healthy respect for fire. I know it has power to hurt, and do great damage because it is all consuming. I am not afraid of it, especially when I treat it with respect, and it is in its place. This is not a perfect analogy for the fear of the Lord, but it helps to communicate the comparison of fear to respect. We respect fire, and we should respect the Lord. Our respect for both come from how incredible the power is. We are grateful when that power is serving our interests, and we are terrified when that power is working against us.
Psalm 25:14 – The Lord confides in those who fear him; He makes His covenant known to them.
We do not tend to confide in people who do not respect us, and the Lord is no different. When we have a healthy reverence for God, He will make his promises known to us so that we can be aware of how God wants to bless us.
Psalm 33:18 – But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love,
While God is everywhere and sees everything, this verse is saying that God is paying particular attention to His church, or in other words, to his adopted family. We know we are adopted into His family by means of our faith and love for Jesus Christ. When we get to know God through Jesus, the only mediator between us and God, we can not help but to develop a healthy reverence for Him.
Psalm 34:7 – The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them.
Psalm 34:9 – Fear the Lord, you his holy people, for those who fear him lack nothing.
A respect for God is crucial to becoming available for His direct blessings. God desires to provide for His people so that we may have a taste of the heaven to come, in order to sort of hold us over until we reach paradise. In this world we may still have trouble, but with God’s love in our lives, we feel a lack for nothing.
Psalm 145:19 – He fulfills the desires of those who fear him; he hears their cry and saves them.
Once we have aligned our hearts with Gods, it becomes His pleasure to give us our every desire.
Proverbs 1:7 – The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
Proverbs 9:10 – The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
Real wisdom comes from God. Anything we think we know that is outside of God’s revelations is incomplete at best, and lies at worst. It is not until we are led by the Holy Spirit that we can even begin to have an understanding of how the world works. Trust me on this. Take it from a man who had the world by the world’s standards all figured out, but had my whole perspective inverted when God finally got my attention.
Proverbs 22:4 – Humility is the fear of the Lord; its wages are riches and honor and life.
When we understand the riches of God’s holiness, and the poverty of our spiritual condition, we can not help but to feel humbled in His presence. This does not mean we have a self esteem problem. It means that we esteem God that much more highly.
A fear of the Lord is a great place to start if we are lacking love, humility, reverence, or wisdom. If we find ourselves desiring more of any of these, let us grow closer to God through His word and in prayer. As we let Him shed the light on our poverty, He will begin to reveal Himself and His riches to us, so that we can be filled up to the capacity that our faith will allow.
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