"Fear of the Lord is the foundation of true wisdom"--Psalms 111:10
What is "Fear"? Have you ever felt fear, of course you have. We have all been afraid. Webster has two different definitions that I really like: the first is: : "to be afraid of : expect with alarm
-"to have a reverential awe of
When I was young, I really got confused about the "Fear" of the Lord we were supposed to have. I heard preachers shout at me about this fear,and yes it scared me, them shouting that is, I heard older adult Christians talk about the "Fear of the Lord." To me "Fear" was something I did not like. It was not being able to sleep because of the "Monsters" that were in my closet or under my bed. How could this fear be associated with a loving God?
The only "FEAR" that does not have the power to cripple us, is the Fear of the Lord. I have read stories about people who literately died of fear. Those who were so afraid of others breaking in to their home and doing terrible things to them and their property. These people "Worried themselves, literately to death." How in the world can a Fear like this, be good for us? God only wants us to have the best, the best things for us, right? And right here in Psalms 111;10 He tells us, through David His servant, that we are to FEAR the Lord, and that THIS is the foundation of Wisdom"?
I am so confused.
"....Wisdom is the ordering of Life according to God's will. Appropriate fear of God is the only thing that gives us the right perspective of, and puts us in the right relationship with the things around us. Holy reverence is therefore the right basis for coping with life's problems."--Michael Frost/Alan Hirsch from " The Faith of Leap".
It is easy to think of Fear as shaking, agonizing, running away from some hidden evil. But from a Biblical point of view there is nothing neurotic about fearing God. The neurotic thing would be to NOT fear God, or to be afraid of the many other wrong things we fear. To sum this up, the Fear of God helps us to have a gateway to the heavenly. This "Fear" or "Reverence' or 'Knowledge of who God really is, becomes the beginning of wisdom. It is not fearing that God in His anger will stomp us if we mess up, it is Respect, and reverence for WHO HE is, and how much He loves us.
Ever been pulled over by a Cop? Most of us have. What happens? You see the flashing lights, and you get a little nervous, frightened, mad because you realize you were speeding? If your like me, you are very polite to the officer, hoping all the time he gives you a "warning ticket" but if not, take your "Medicine" and start worrying about how your going to pay this fine, and how much it will make your car insurance go up.
Now take that same Police Officer in a different circumstance. Your sitting at a outdoor restaurant eating lunch and a man comes running through knocking over tables. Then that cop comes running yelling "Stop or I will shoot". His gun is drawn, he tells everyone to take cover and he shoots the assailant. Would you fear the cop in this situation? No, you would fear the situation, but the cop represented authority, he was there to stop the bad guy and keep you safe while doing it.
See the difference in the two stories? In both we had some fear, BUT in the first it was the fear of the cop's authority, while in the second it was fear of the situation. We were not afraid of the cop, but what action he had to take to keep us safe and stop the bad guy from escaping and causing more harm to others.
We have fear of being pulled over by a cop, especially if were "trying to make good time" and speeding. That is fear of getting caught in our sin. That is not the Fear of the Lord. To fear the Lord is to respect, acknowledge, accept His authority over us. To know that HE knows what is best for us, and turn our life's over to Him.
Do you think it is a sin, NOT to fear the Lord? I do, when you do this your PRIDE is showing. If we do not fear the Lord, we are saying that His authority is not there. We are trying to put ourselves on the same level with God. God loves us, each and everyone of us. There is NOTHING we can do to change that. We sin, He still loves us. We doubt, He still loves us, We shake our fist at Him and blame Him for life's problems, and He still loves us. We tell Him our sins, confess them all to Him and He not only loves us, but He puts His arms around us and tells us of things we don't know.
Do you,like me, want wisdom? Wisdom only God can give us? Then we need to FEAR the Lord more. Not for what He can do to us, but What He can do FOR us.To fear in this instance, is to Love. I still don't understand it completely, I just know it works. It's kinda like being married, yes there is Love, but there is also a little bit of fear there to. Fear is a good emotion, if it is for the right thing.
Let us go with "Fear and not so much trembling"
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