“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” — Proverbs 9:10
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When you first hear the phrase “the fear of the Lord” it might make you sit back a bit. Some thoughts might pop up in your head like, “Why should I fear God? If God is all-loving, why should I fear Him? I thought there was no fear in love?”
All of these are great questions, but we have to look deeper into the concept of fearing the Lord to fully understand. The fear of the Lord is not to be deathly afraid of God. It is a healthy fear, or respect, of who God is. Think of the “fear” you have for your parents. Whenever you do something you’re not supposed to do, you start thinking of what your parents will say and do. That is some of what “the fear of the Lord” is portraying. The fear of the Lord is to have deep respect, reverence and awe for God and who He is.
This does not mean you can’t have a close personal relationship with God. He wants to have a close personal relationship with you. Think of a relationship you have with a sports coach. You want to have a close relationship with your coach, but you need to have respect for your coach as well. So yes, build a close relationship with God, but also keep the respect there that He deserves.
The ultimate meaning of “fear of the Lord” is to not treat God causally. When we treat God too causally, we can forget all that He’s done, and does, for us. We need to make sure we are giving Him all of the honor and glory because He deserves it all. Keep God in the place He deserves. When you do that and have a healthy fear of the Lord, that’s when you start to grow in His wisdom.
— Carson Lokey
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