The Fear of the Lord

I'm up late tonight writing Daily Verses for next week, and I spent some time researching for help with the devotional on Acts 9:31- "So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up.  And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied."  Now there is a good recipe for church growth-- the fear of the Lord and the comfort of the Holy Spirit!  But as I pondered on that I started to wonder, what exactly is "the fear of the Lord?"  

Fearing God is not about being afraid.  In fact, it's often associated with lack of fear.  For example, Exodus 20:20- "Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin."  And Matthew 10:28- "Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.  Rather, fear Him who can destroy both soul and body in hell."

Fearing God is about opening our eyes to the reality to which sin blinds us.  We are inclined to be afraid of many things-- the future, the past, enemies, insecurity, money, relationships, death.  But we are not naturally inclined to fear the One in whose hand all things fearful rest.  To fear God is to recognize Him as the holy, righteous, omnipotent, sovereign Creator and Judge before whom every knee will bow.

Fearing God, as I learned in my word study tonight, has many promised benefits.  Here is a partial list of them, just from Proverbs (I think I've stumbled across a key theme of Proverbs here):

"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge."  ~1:7

"The fear of the LORD is to hate evil." ~8:13

"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom."  ~9:10

"In the fear of the LORD one has strong confidence." ~14:26

"The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life." ~14:27

"Better is a little with the fear of the LORD than great treasure and trouble without it."  ~15:16

"The fear of the LORD keeps one away from evil."  ~16:6

Can you see how awe of God's holiness and glory brings about all those promised results?  True wisdom and knowledge begin when the solar system of our lives is reoriented around God at the center.  A realization and love of God's holiness shows sin to be what it really is-- an affront to the character of our Creator.  To fear God is to see Him as the Sovereign One, in whose hands are all human events, and therefore we have a basis for a life of strong confidence.  Fear of the Lord, it turns out, is the fruit of faith, and therefore a fountain of eternal life.

Most importantly of all, fear of God doesn't just lead us to our Judge; it also leads us to our Savior.  The more we become aware of the great holiness and glory of God, the more we despise our sins and daily seek refuge at Calvary where the wrath of God was absorbed.  The fear of the Lord allows us to see our holy Judge as our glorious Savior.

"The fear of the LORD is Zion's treasure."  ~Isaiah 33:6