Fear God!

Fear God!

‭Proverbs 9:10 AMPC‬

[10] The reverent and worshipful fear of the Lord is the beginning (the chief and choice part) of Wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight and understanding.

Fear has both positive and negative connotations. There is a healthy fear and a crippling fear. There is one version of fear that leads you to deal with God and men the right way, and there is the other version that leads you down the path of destruction. The verse above lays emphasis on the good variant of fear, and it is important that I know what the expectations of God are, so that I can pattern my life to align with God's expectations. After all, it is what God demands that matters; not what men celebrate or applaud. I have to be careful of the things that drive my actions and reactions, so that I can end up with the right results that give glory to God. 

Check out the words used above: the reverent and worshipful fear of the Lord. That is deep, because it shows that the right fear is the kind that makes me worship God the right way. Reverence and worship come from a heart that recognizes the authority and superiority of a Supreme Being. Reverence and worship come from a heart that has personal and ongoing encounters with the Power of God. There is a place to acquire information about God, which helps me know who He is, and understand what He demands from me, but the fundamental application of all these is when all I have known or understood help me deal with God the right way. That is the bit about wisdom that is critical to this verse.

Wisdom begins with the knowledge and understanding of who God is. I can deal with Him the right way: hate what He hates, and love what He loves. Taking the time to search for and know God opens my eyes to even deeper levels of insight and understanding of who He is, and what He wants. The higher and deeper I go with Him, the less attractive the things of the world appear to me. It is also important to consider the nature of God that is on display in the verse above: Holiness. It is one thing about God that is the minimum basic requirement for all who will walk with Him. Am I willing to pay the price for where God wants to take me? God's time of favour is here.