Amanda BethSharing the Truths Behind the TRUTH

Jan 24th Monday’s Blog: The Fear of the Lord

Several years ago as I was studying the Bible, I realized every scripture I read at the time had to do with the fear of the Lord. I hadn’t paid much attention to the fear of the Lord before, so it intrigued me to look up all the verses I could find that talked about it. As I searched the Scriptures, I was amazed at how many verses instructed us to fear God. I was also amazed at all the things the fear of the Lord led to. The great blessings and benefits were overwhelmingly in our favor. I quickly understood why God wanted us to fear Him.

That made me all the more eager to find out how to fear Him. In my seeking I learned the fear of the Lord was not a tormenting fear, but rather a trembling reverential fear of awe and respect. Knowing we will stand before Him in judgment, and everything hidden will be made known, but at the same time, knowing that His mercy and love for us endures forever (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14, Psalm 136).

I remember having a small revelation of God’s greatness as I was helping my daughter with her geography work. I was holding her globe in my hands when I thought of God holding our earth in His hands. That humbled me and made me realize how small we really are. And even though we’re small, God truly cares about even the most minute details of our lives.

So often we ignorantly think we don’t need God because we are so smart. We can figure everything out on our own. We often don’t realize how powerless and small we really are until we measure ourselves to God. God’s wisdom is far beyond our wisdom, which is why we need to live in reverence to Him.

In Proverbs 2, Solomon explains how to gain understanding of the fear the Lord:

V1: My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you,

As I talked about in last week’s blog, “guarding our hearts,” we won’t accept His Words and store them in our hearts without first believing His Words are true.

V2: turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding,

We need to listen to what God teaches us and turn our hearts undivided over to Him. Psalm 86:11 says, “Teach me your way, O LORD, and I will walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name.”

V3: and if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding,

When we ask God for revelation and help in understanding His Word, He is faithful to answer us. Jeremiah 33:3 says, Call to Me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know. Proverbs 1:6-7 says the fear of the Lord is the only way to understanding the proverbs and parables and the sayings of the wise. God is the only One who can reveal His Word to us.

In Mark 4:11-12, Jesus said the secret of the kingdom of God has been given to us through Him. He explained that, to those on the outside, everything is said in parables so they may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding.

V4: and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure,

Perseverance and seeking, not giving up and settling for our own wisdom, unlocks the hidden treasures of God and His Word.

V5: THEN you will understand the FEAR OF THE LORD and find the knowledge of God.

Did you notice that it never said anything about being perfect and not sinning? The next verses explain how the wisdom of God, found only through the fear of the Lord, protects us, preserves us, and keeps us from following the wrong path.

God gives us wisdom and common sense to know that sin only hurts and destroys us. Verses 9-10 say, “Then you will understand what is right and just and fair—every good path.For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.”

Jesus, when talking to the Pharisees in Mark 7:6-8, repeated Isaiah 29:13, saying their fear of the Lord was made up of only rules taught by men. They came near to God with their mouths and honored Him with their lips but their hearts were far from Him. They wouldn’t lay down their man made traditions and their wisdom and humble themselves before Jesus.

Humbling ourselves, laying down our wisdom in exchange for God’s wisdom is how we find the knowledge and understanding of God. Wisdom and knowledge have nothing to do with book knowledge or biblical knowledge, as we learned from the Pharisees. There is a wisdom, a knowledge, and an understanding that NO ONE can find on their own. This is only acquired through the fear of the Lord—humbling ourselves before God.

I personally know this is true because I don’t have a lot of biblical knowledge and I am not “book smart.” I couldn’t understand anything when I first read the Bible. It completely confused me. It wasn’t until I surrendered my heart to God, and humbled myself before Him, did I start to find His wisdom, His knowledge, and His understanding.

The things God reveals to me are so amazing that I know I couldn’t have figured them out on my own. I have a toddler, an infant, and two elementary aged children that I home school. The fact that I can even learn anything from the Bible amazes me, as I have constant disruptions. In fact, last week’s blog was written while I also had my one and five year old nieces staying with us for three days.

So it’s not about how much we study; it’s about surrendering our whole hearts to the Lord and living with respect and reverence for His commands. It’s about seeking Him for His wisdom and obeying what He teaches us. This is where we find the fear of the Lord. And this is where we find the knowledge of God.

I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe…

Ephesians 1:17-19

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**Something to think about this week**

I want to encourage you this week to seek God and ask Him to give you an undivided heart so that you may fear Him. Ecclesiastes 12:12 says that much study wearies the body. It’s not about how much you know. It’s about what you do with what you know. Let’s carry verse 13 with us this week to remind us of our true purpose in life…to fear the Lord!

Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole [duty] of man.

Ecclesiastes 12:13

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**Come back next Monday as I share more of God’s Truths and the reasons behind the Truths.

All Bible verses are taken from the NIV, unless otherwise noted.