Fear of the Lord

January 10, 2008

Job 28:28 KJV
(28) And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.

I always cringe a little bit when I see that verse. I need to fear the Lord. He is a big mean God who is going to hit me over the head with a hammer if I do not straighten up. NOT!

You see, fear is not a good word for us to use today. In the King James times it most likely had a different meaning. Strong's gives us a idea what it should mean:

fear (also used as infinitive); morally reverence: - X dreadful, X exceedingly, fear (-fulness).

Did you catch that, along with fear it says morally reverence. In trying to teach my children what the 'fear of the Lord' means, I often use the example of fire. Uncontrolled, a fire can hurt you and you had better get away from it. But when it is under control it can heat my house, bar-b-que my chicken and cook my food. I do not need to run from that. But I still have to respect it. If I put my hand in the hot coals when I am grilling my chicken, I will hurt myself. I call it a healthy respect for the fire. I do not fear the fire, but I respect what it can do and I avoid situations when it can hurt me.

My dad was an alcoholic. I have never taken a drink. Some would say that I fear it. But I have seen how it can destroy a person, so I would say I have a healthy respect for it and do not even want to tempt myself with it.

I personally think that we do not teach that reverence, the healthy respect for God in our churches today. I think that it can be taught from the children on up to the adults. Of course the church I grew up in had strict rules about what you could and could not do in the area where services were, and that has stayed with me for many years.

Take some time to think about how you reverence God today.

Read through the Bible in historical order in one year:
Today:
Job 24:1-28:28
Tomorrow:
Job 29:1-31:40