Fear of the Lord

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge . . .

– Proverbs 1:7 (NIV)

Fearing God is not in vogue these days, at least not in the culture in which we live. It’s hard for us to wrap our minds around verses like Proverbs 1:7. The verse continues: “but fools despise wisdom and discipline.” This is scary in itself (speaking of fear) when I think about how much I despise discipline.

So I’m pondering this passage: “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge”.

Knowledge of what?

A possible answer comes to me. Fear of the Lord is – in part – the knowledge of how completely helpless I am without Him. Do I understand that? I’m an American, with a checking account and a college degree and a 401k and a house and three (three?) cars. It’s easy for the well-integrated unbelievers among us to not “feel” helpless. Our physical circumstances are not desperate.

Yet, without Christ we are helpless. There is no “pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps” in the Kingdom of God. We have so little power on our own. Christ died for us while we were dead in our trespasses and sins. You can’t get much more helpless than “dead”.

But if we’re in the Kingdom, adopted children and beloved by our Father, why the fear aspect? Why does fear need to intrude into my relationship with God? Wouldn’t fearing God interfere with my love for Him?

Oh, if I could only begin to comprehend His holiness, His power, His splendor and His glory, I might know real fear for the first time. Fear expressing itself in dumbfounded awe, trembling love, and prostrate devotion. Fear that only leads me to love Him more.

I leave you with a favorite passage from Job:

Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said,

“Who is this that darkens counsel

By words without knowledge?

“Now gird up your loins like a man,

And I will ask you, and you instruct Me!

“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?

Job 38:1-4a (NASB)

And on and on for 60+ more awe-inspiring verses.

And Job gets it. He knows where he was when God laid the foundations of the earth.

He was nowhere.

Nowhere, that is, except within the loving and holy thoughts of his Creator.

Then Job answered the LORD and said,

“Behold, I am insignificant; what can I reply to You?

I lay my hand on my mouth.

Job understood the fear of the Lord. And it made him wise.

I lay my hand on my mouth.

13 thoughts on “Fear of the Lord

  1. Wow. That’s as good a summation of the true Gospel as I’ve encountered in the beegeesphere in quite a while.

    I just may nominate it for Mr. Standfast’s gospel post award thingy.

  2. Wow Bill. This is really good. Excellent in fact. Thank you. (I happen to think that you have a gift for writing too. I would love to see you published one day.)

  3. I leave you with a favorite passage from Job:

    Mine, too! It sends chills down my spine to read it, even after all these times. Can you imagine how Job felt, hearing it straight from God’s mouth? Yowza!

    “Laying my hand on my mouth” would be a great blog name.

  4. That verse in Job always gives me goosebumps as well. You have some 30+ verses prior of ya-da-ya-da, you messed up, no I didn’t, yes you did i’m sure of it, but then in comes the Master and school is in session.

    I find it the definitive “being put in one’s place” moment. I find a somewhat distant second in Moses’ questioning of God at the burning bush (although my thought of that scene is probably overly colored by the stylization of it in the Prince of Egypt movie).

    Oh, do I lack fear. Very nice and timely post–i need it big-time. It is something I’ve always had a curiousity about. I read of those who have seen the I AM, and it seems to be associated with prostration (Isaiah, Daniel, Ezekiel?). Very hard for a fat(and growing larger daily seemingly 🙁 ), dumb and happy dude in “paradise” to comprehend. *sigh*

    Three cars!? I can tell this will be a good Tepp story! 🙂

  5. Hi Bill: Jared nominated this post for my Gospel Blogger Award, and I concur with his judgement. Your the winner, Dude! Not that there’s a prize or statuette or anything, but hey, recognition is cool. Seriously, thanks for some excellent blogging here.

  6. That is a good post! My favorite verses in Job speak of the dimensions and depths of God that exist, yet are beyond the human ability and capacity to apprehend:

    Job 26:5-14

    5 “The dead tremble,

    Those under the waters and those inhabiting them.

    6 Sheol is naked before Him,

    And Destruction has no covering.

    7 He stretches out the north over empty space;

    He hangs the earth on nothing.

    8 He binds up the water in His thick clouds,

    Yet the clouds are not broken under it.

    9 He covers the face of His throne,

    And spreads His cloud over it.

    10 He drew a circular horizon on the face of the waters,

    At the boundary of light and darkness.

    11 The pillars of heaven tremble,

    And are astonished at His rebuke.

    12 He stirs up the sea with His power,

    And by His understanding He breaks up the storm.

    13 By His Spirit He adorned the heavens;

    His hand pierced the fleeing serpent.

    14 Indeed these are the mere edges of His ways,

    And how small a whisper we hear of Him!

    But the thunder of His power who can understand?”

    (NKJV)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *