The Fear of the Lord is a profound reverence and awe towards God 

“In the fear of the Lord one has strong confidence, and his children will have a refuge.” (Prov. 14:26 ESV) 

Having a healthy fear of the Lord strengthens you like a rock, and that will turn you into a wonderful refuge for your children. That’s especially important in the world we live in today, with so much uncertainty and negativity coming at them from every direction.

We have confidence before God

“For the Lord will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being caught.” (Prov. 3:26 ESV)

“For whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God;” (1 John 3:20-21 ESV)

Therefore

“So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?” (Heb. 13:6 ESV)

“Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised.” (Heb. 10:35-36 ESV)

The Fear of the Lord is a profound reverence and awe towards God 

“Oh, fear the Lord, you his saints, for those who fear him have no lack!” (Psalm 34:9 ESV)

“Those who fear him have no lack” is an incredible promise to rejoice about! I think it goes together well with another promise verse, “And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 4:19).  Both have the same idea that all your needs will be met by God and you will lack nothing you need.

All the time do this first

“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” (Matt. 6:33 ESV)

Therefore

“Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?” (Matt. 6:26 ESV)

“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” (1 Peter 2:9 ESV)

The Fear of the Lord is a profound reverence and awe towards God.

“The friendship of the Lord is for those who fear him, and he makes known to them his covenant.” (Psalm 25:14 ESV)

True friendship!

The Lord Jesus Christ gave us the definition of a true friend.

 “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you” (John 15:13-15).

“For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:7-8).

Therefore

Jesus is the pure example of a true friend, for He laid down His life for His “friends.” What is more, anyone may become His friend by trusting in Him as his personal savior, being born again and receiving new life in Him.

Being a friend of God is the greatest gift on earth. To know you are deeply loved by the Lord of All Creation brings genuine joy.

“For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son.” (Rom. 5:10, NLT)

The Fear of the Lord is a profound reverence and awe towards God

“The fear of the Lord leads to life, and whoever has it rests satisfied; he will not be visited by harm.” (Prov. 19:23 ESV)

Over the years, we’ve gone on many vacations to get some “rest” from our normal routine, and we usually came home exhausted and needed to recover from them before going back to work. It was especially true when our four children were very young and we had bundled them into the back of our station wagon on a long drive to some vacation spot we hoped would revitalize us. In retrospect, we would have been better off staying home with our children and just going to the park. We’d have gotten more rest, for sure. And our children would have had more fun.

What is rest?

According to Webster’s Dictionary, rest is a noun that means a state of repose, sleep, or relaxation, or a verb that means to get or cause rest by lying down, ceasing from activity, or being free from anxiety. It can also refer to a place for resting.

The best kind of rest comes from the Lord

The verse at top says whoever has the fear of the Lord rests satisfied. That’s the best answer in a nutshell.

“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matt. 11:28-30 ESV)

Therefore

“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” (Matt. 11:28 ESV)

“And he said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” (Exo. 33:14 ESV)

The Fear of the Lord is a profound reverence and awe towards God

“The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, that one may turn away from the snares of death.” (Prov. 14:27 ESV)

I love fountains!

I love to build water features and have placed them all around my yard, front and back. They are a reminder that water and fountains are used throughout the Bible to describe how God blesses.

“For with You is the fountain of life; In Your light we see light.” (Psalm 36:9)

“Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” (John 4:10 ESV)

“Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:13-14 ESV) 

“For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.” (Rev. 7:17)

“And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment.” (Rev. 21:6)

Therefore

“With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.” (Isa. 12:3 ESV)

“The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.” (Rev. 22:17 ESV)

The Fear of the Lord is a profound reverence and awe towards God

“And his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation.” (Luke 1:50 ESV)

According to the above passage, mercy is a benefit “for those who fear him.”

What is mercy?

According to the dictionary, mercy is a blessing that is an act of divine favor or compassion—mercy forbears punishing even when justice demands it. Another way of saying it: Mercy is receiving forgiveness when you don’t deserve it, an act of grace.

Saved by God’s never-ending mercy

“He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,” (Titus 3:5 ESV)

“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” (Lam. 3:22-23 ESV)

Therefore

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,” (1 Peter 1:3 ESV)

The Fear of the Lord is a profound reverence and awe towards God 

“The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate.” (Prov. 8:13 ESV)

Confusing the definition of good and evil

Currently in the United States, there is a movement made up of social media giants, mainstream media groups, and political arms that is defining what is good or evil and socially acceptable. A term often used to describe this is political correctness. And to be concise, it means to be woke, meaning to be socially aware regarding such things as race, gender, and/or certain political issues (the term varies from group to group). They wield great influence and power to bring those who disagree with them or think differently from them to ruin—they immediately attack dissenters, calling them haters. The word hater is now defined as a bad person—good is now being called bad, and bad is being called good, as God warned us (see Isa. 5:20).

This kind of thinking is from the devil and is a direct attack on the Word of God—It is a way of evil and is perverted speech, which God says He hates (see verse at top).  

What God hates

“There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out lies and a person who stirs up conflict in the community.” (Prov. 6:16-19)

We are commanded to hate what God hates and to love what God loves

“Hate evil, you who love the Lord,
Who preserves the souls of His godly ones; He delivers them from the hand of the wicked.” (Psalm 97:10)

“Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good.” Rom. 12:9)

A warning from God

“since they hated knowledge and did not choose to fear the Lord. Since they would not accept my advice and spurned my rebuke, they will eat the fruit of their ways and be filled with the fruit of their schemes. For the waywardness of the simple will kill them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them; but whoever listens to me will live in safety and be at ease, without fear of harm.” (Prov. 1:29-33) 

Therefore

“Hate evil, love good, And establish justice in the gate.” (Amos 5:15)

“Do I not hate those who hate You, O Lord? And do I not loathe those who rise up against You?” (Psalm 139:29)

The Fear of the Lord is a profound reverence and awe towards God

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.” (Prov. 1:7 ESV)

Human knowledge

Human knowledge, apart from God, is flawed. The Bible refers to it as worthless because it isn’t tempered by love (1 Cor. 13:2). The knowledge man possesses tends to make one proud. “Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up” (1 Cor. 8:1). Therefore, the pursuit of knowledge for its own sake, without seeking God, is foolishness.

 “Then I applied myself to the understanding of wisdom . . . but I learned that this, too, is a chasing after the wind. For with much wisdom comes much sorrow; the more knowledge, the more grief” (Eccles. 1:17-18).

Worldly knowledge is a false knowledge which is opposed to the truth.

“Turn away from godless chatter and the opposing ideas of what is falsely called knowledge, which some have professed and in so doing have wandered from the faith” (1 Tim. 6:20-21).

Human knowledge is opposed to God’s knowledge and therefore is no knowledge at all; rather, it is foolishness.

God’s knowledge

GOD’s knowledge is very different than human knowledge. It is infinite and absolute.

“Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!” (Rom. 11:33)

God’s vast knowledge and creative power are on display continually and are clearly seen in what He has created.

 “Night after night [the skies] display knowledge.” (Psalm 19:2)

“For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.” (Rom. 1:19-20)

All the hidden treasures of wisdom and knowledge are in Jesus Christ

“that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” (Col. 2:2-3)

Therefore

Because knowledge is God’s to give, those who reverence Him will receive it.

 “For the Lord gives wisdom; From his mouth come knowledge and understanding;” (Prov. 2:6)

The Fear of the Lord is a profound reverence and awe towards God

 “The fear of the Lord prolongs life, but the years of the wicked will be short.” (Prov. 10:27 ESV)

 The promise above says that the fear of the Lord prolongs a person’s life, but the life of the wicked will be short. That’s because those who fear God seek to walk in His ways; they obey His commands, and that makes things go well with them. On the other hand, the wicked person lives a very different life and does not honor and respect God, which leads them to make unwise decisions with negative consequences.

 Therefore

“You shall walk in all the way that the Lord your God has commanded you, that you may live, and that it may go well with you, and that you may live long in the land that you shall possess.” (Deut. 5:33)

“For through wisdom your days will be multiplied, and years will be added to your life.” (Prov. 9:11)

“Gray hair is a crown of glory; it is gained in a righteous life.” (Prov. 16:31)