The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding. Proverbs 9:10

Fear is often rightfully seen in a negative light. When the slothful servant rendered an account to his lord, he betrayed that his failure was fear-based, saying: ‘I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth’ (Matthew 25:25). The persons represented by this parable are indeed afraid of God. But this is not ‘the fear of the LORD’. Because they desire only to serve themselves, they misconstrue God’s motives in requiring service to Himself and His creatures, and reckon Him as an hard taskmaster. Their thoughts towards the One who sacrificed His own Son for their ransom is: ‘thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed’ (Matthew 25:24).

‘The fear of the Lord’ is something entirely different altogether, being motivated by the very opposite principle. Far from being borne of the selfish desire to evade God’s requirements, ‘the fear of the Lord’ springs from a heart that desires to serve God with all his being. The man who is afraid of offending the Lord in any point he may be ignorant of, diligently seeks ‘the knowledge of the holy’ by studying God’s word, which furnishes him with ‘understanding’ pertaining to the will of Him whom he loves to serve.

Without the healthy restraining fear of God, a man is as a brute beast. His life will be fruitless, and he ‘shall die without knowledge’ (Jeremiah 36:12). It is sometimes said that to fear God means to reverence Him, but to ‘fear God’ means what it says, and all that love God also fear Him.

Christopher Sparks