The importance of "The Fear of the Lord"
This idea was always a confusing topic for me growing up inside the church. We are taught that God is all powerful, all knowing, and all kind. The phrase “The Fear of the Lord” is something that doesn’t immediately make since when just looked at broadly. The idea that fearing the lord is something we must do in order to fully accept the salvation of the lord is commonly overlooked by a lot of christians, especially in a day and age where word faith is preached all over the globe.
The phrase “The Fear of the Lord” can be realized inside of the proverbs, as well as many other places in the Bible. Proverbs chapter 1 introduces this phrase almost immediately saying “It is the Beginning of knowledge” (1:7).
The term fear can be described in our language as “an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or a threat.” When first read, this definition can cause some panic within Christians. A dangerous God who will cause pain or threaten me? That is what this verse is describing about our creator but in a sense of respect and honor and not cowering and scared.
God is almighty and the creator of us and everything else. Proper fear of the Lord is the reverence that we owe our creator and that the redeemed (us) owes to our redeemer (Jesus). We must respect and honor God for all his power and knowledge.
A great definition of Fear of the Lord is this by Waltke, “What the alphabet is to reading, notes to reading music, and numerals to mathematics, the fear of the LORD is to attaining the revealed knowledge of this book”
The quote shows us the importance of Fear of the Lord is. Without the fear talked about in this verse we will not be able to know and understand the knowledge that God has laid out for us in our life. Weather that be through reading the word, sermons, or life experiences. Fear of the Lord is something as Christians we should embrace and know that without it we will be missing what God really has for us.
