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Understanding the Bible: Why is the fear of the Lord the BEGINNING of wisdom?- Part 2

 Fear of the Lord leads to action

The plague of hail

The very first example of the fear of the Lord in the Bible is Exodus 9:20. This is what it says (the context is Moses warning the people of a plague of hail):

Those officials of Pharaoh who feared the word of the Lord hurried to bring their slaves and their livestock inside. But those who ignored the word of the Lord left their slaves and livestock in the field.

Exodus 9:20-21

So the officials who fear the (word of) the Lord listen. They do something about it and bring their slaves and livestock inside. The important thing is the connection between belief and action – their actions show they believe.

As a side note, it’s interesting that the fear of the Lord is not restricted to his people. The book of Acts also talks about ‘God-fearing gentiles’ (Acts 13:26). This suggests that someone who is not a Christian (or, perhaps, not yet a Christian) might nonetheless have some kind of fear of the Lord. I wouldn’t say that means they’re saved, but maybe you could say it’s one step towards the kingdom of God.

God requires it of his people

Secondly, this is what God required of the Israelites in the Law:

And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to observe the Lord’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good?

Deuteronomy 10:12-13

Again we have this connection between the fear of the Lord and obedience. Note that, although the ‘fear’ comes first, then obedience, then Moses talks about love and service. This is really important: fear and love are connected. In fact, you could say they are two sides of the same coin.

Fear of the Lord stops us from wanting to do the wrong thing – but love compels us to do the right thing. You might say the same of a human father: I have two young girls, and sometimes I need to punish them if they do something wrong. But – I hope that what compels them to obey me is not their fear of punishment, but rather because they love and respect me. It’s the same with God, our heavenly Father. We can reverence, respect and love him all at the same time – and all these things lead to our obedience.

A lack of it leads to immorality

Psalm 36 begins like this:

I have a message from God in my heart
concerning the sinfulness of the wicked:
There is no fear of God
before their eyes.

Psalm 36:1

Here, David says that wicked people do not fear the Lord. In other words, when people don’t fear the Lord, they do what they like with no concern for right or wrong. They simply say, as Psalm 12 puts it, “Who is lord over us?” (Psalm 12:4). They become the judges of right and wrong for themselves.

So, in summary, the fear of the Lord is associated with obedience. If we fear the Lord, we’ll listen to him and obey his commands. That explains what the fear of the Lord is – but that doesn’t explain why the fear of the Lord is only the beginning of wisdom.

To Be Continued !!!!!

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