The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge , but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom , and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
Proverbs 1:7
Proverbs 9:10 But I will show you whom you should fear: fear Him who, after He has killed, has power to cast into hell; yes, I say to you, fear Him! Luke 12:5 (Jesus speaking)
Whole books have been written by other authors on the fear of the Lord. If you are struggling with this concept as a Christ-follower, I urge you to find and read one or more of them because fearing God is taught throughout the New Testament, not merely the Old.
The fear of God prevents us from doing either stupid religious stuff (see Matthew 4:5-7) or developing bad attitudes (e.g., a sense of entitlement with God, treating Him like a cosmic bellhop solely there to do our bidding).
There is great misconception among atheists and other skeptics that God seeks our worship because He’s insecure and needs affirmation. More than a a few church-goers silently agree with them, but would never dare admit it to anyone else. Absolutely false! He needs nothing from anyone, anywhere because He is absolutely self-sufficient.
God is not seeking worship, He’s looking for worshippers!
Why?
Because we human beings become like whatever or whomever we worship. Ergo, if we worship Him, we become more like Him. When we worship someone or something else, eh, not so much!
He simply loves us way too much to allow us to worship anyone else but Himself because He is uniquely qualified to be worthy of it.
Furthermore, our fear of God also precludes us from succumbing to the fear of man. Indeed, the fear of God is the only antidote for it available to us. As I stated in the opening paragraphs of this article, whoever we fear is who we will worship.
And that is why the Almighty is so adamant about our fearing Him instead of anything or anyone else.
Thanks for reading!
The Fear of Man Return to Series Index
