What is the fear of the Lord? And how can we get it into our lives? The fear of the Lord is to love what God loves and to hate what God hates. The fear of the Lord is both positive and negative.
Love Wisdom: The positive is to love what God loves—wisdom. The fear of the Lord is to love wisdom. “My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding…then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord gives wisdom” (Proverbs 2:1-2,5-6) To love wisdom is to fear the Lord. “‘The fear of the Lord—that is wisdom’” (Job 28:28). The person who would understand the fear of the Lord will love what God loves. So he will love wisdom. Wisdom comes from God alone. Many want to add their own unique theories to the wisdom of God. When we add to the wisdom of God, it does not become the wisdom of God plus something, but the wisdom of God minus something. Can we lead a rebellion against the eternal God? Can we be His teacher? Let us learn to love the wisdom of God, and then we will understand the fear of the Lord.
Hate Evil: The negative is to hate what God hates—evil. “To fear the Lord is to hate evil” (Proverbs 8:13). “Through the fear of the Lord a man avoids evil” (Proverbs 16:6). “To shun evil is understanding” (Job 28:28). The person who would understand the fear of the Lord will hate what God hates. What differentiates the person who understands the fear of the Lord from the one who does not? The person not gripped by the fear of God tolerates evil. The person gripped by godly fear cannot tolerate evil because God does not tolerate evil. He hates evil with the intensity that God hates evil, or at least he tries to. He is a reformer, and his hatred of evil does not allow him to tolerate sin.
This is the an!dote for disobedience: “Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man” (Ecclesiastes 12:13). Though we have lost the fear of the Lord, our duty is to find it again. The fear of the Lord is the an dote for disobedience. The Hebrew people pledged obedience to God when Moses declared the ten commandments to them. God responded to their pledge: “Oh, that their hearts would be inclined to fear me and keep all my commands always” (Deuteronomy 5:29). God links obedience to the fear of the Lord—it is the an dote for disobedience. Learn to understand the fear of the Lord. Surrender to it. Love wisdom and hate evil.
In His Service,
Eric Barnes
