1. The Fear of the Lord Various Proverbs
The Book of Proverbs
The Fear of the Lord
Various Proverbs

2. The Fear of the Lord
Because the first nine chapters of the book of Proverbs (nearly a third of the book) focus on the subject of wisdom itself, we spent the first three weeks in our study of the Proverbs focusing on wisdom.
Today we will be focusing the fear of the Lord, a theme that runs throughout the book of Proverbs and, in fact, throughout the Bible.

3. Beginning With God
Proverbs tells us that the fear of the Lord is the starting point for getting the wisdom and knowledge that we need to understand how the world works:
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge (Proverbs 1:7a)
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight. (Proverbs 9:10)
In other words, Proverbs tells us that in order to have a right view of the world and how it works you must first have a right view of God.
People in modern society don’t think like this.

4. Beginning With God
In much of our culture today, people think that we can make sense of the world around us through reason – apart from what we believe about God.
Our society views faith as something that is opposed to reason and should be kept private.
Proverbs tells us just the opposite: unless you start with God, nothing in the universe makes sense!

5. What is the “Fear of the Lord”?
What does the Bible mean when it says that we must fear the Lord? Does this mean that we are supposed to be scared of God or afraid of God?
The Bible tells us that Adam was “afraid” of God after he sinned (Genesis 3:10). Should Adam have been afraid?
The Apostle Paul tells us that one of the marks of human depravity is that There is no fear of God before their eyes (Romans 3:18)

6. What is the “Fear of the Lord”?
John Murray put it this way: “It is the essence of impiety [i.e. ungodliness] to not be afraid of God when there is reason to be afraid” (John Murray, Principles of Conduct, p. 233)
Pharaoh is a classic example: But Pharaoh said, “Who is the LORD, that I should obey his voice and let Israel go? I do not know the LORD, and moreover, I will not let Israel go.” (Exodus 5:2).
Even after the Egyptians had suffered through seven of the ten plagues, Moses said to Pharaoh, But as for you and your servants, I know that you do not yet fear the LORD God. (Exodus 9:30)

7. What is the “Fear of the Lord”?
The Bible often links a lack of the fear of the Lord with sinful conduct and attitudes:
“Do you not fear me?” declares the LORD. “Do you not tremble before me?”… “But this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart; they have turned aside and gone away. They do not say in their hearts, 'Let us fear the LORD our God…’”(Jer. 5:22-24)
Because I have called and you refused to listen… they will call upon me, but I will not answer… Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the LORD… (Proverbs 1:24,28-29)

8. What is the “Fear of the Lord”?
Should Christians be afraid of God?
Haven’t they been rescued from God’s wrath (1Thessalonians 1:10)?
Isn’t it true that for the believer, “perfect love casts out fear” (1John 4:18)?
And yet, on the other hand, the book of Proverbs seems to describe the people of God as having the “fear of the Lord”:
Whoever walks in uprightness fears the LORD, but he who is devious in his ways despises him. (Proverbs 14:2)
Blessed is the one who fears the LORD always, but whoever hardens his heart will fall into calamity. (Proverbs 28:14)

9. What is the “Fear of the Lord”?
So what does it mean for a Christian to “fear the Lord”?
Hebrew Lexicons tell us that the Hebrew word for “fear” (yira) can mean:
To be scared or afraid of something.
To be in awe of, or have deep reverence for someone or something.

10. What is the “Fear of the Lord”?
The way that Lexicons determine the meaning of a word or phrase in the Bible is by looking and seeing how that word or phrase is used in various passages in the Bible.
For example, what does Exodus 20:20 tell us about the “fear of the Lord” and being afraid of God?
Moses said to the people, “Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin”
It tells us that a fear of the God motivates us to avoid sin so that we don’t have to be afraid!

11. What is the “Fear of the Lord”?
Many of the Proverbs also tell us that the fear of the Lord changes the hearts of those who have it so that they come to hate and avoid evil:
… fear the LORD and turn away from evil. (3:7b)
To fear the LORD is hatred of evil… (8:13a)
… by the fear of the LORD one turns away from evil. (16:6b)
The fear of the LORD is instruction in wisdom… (15:33a)

12. What is the “Fear of the Lord”?
What is it that causes the people of God to have a fear or awe of God? Is it because they are afraid of him?
One of the obvious things that has motivated God’s people to fear or be in awe of Him is seeing Him display His great power, like the time the Israelites were rescued from the Egyptian army:
Israel saw the great power that the LORD used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the LORD… (Exodus 14:31a)

13. What is the “Fear of the Lord”?
Psalm 130:3-4 shows us that another reason that God’s people fear the Lord is because of His mercy in forgiving them:
But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared.

14. What is the “Fear of the Lord”?
Rather than the fear of the Lord being a negative thing where we cower in fear of God, for the people of God, the fear of the Lord is a huge positive.
Jesus is our example for in this – a Messianic prophesy in Isaiah shows us that the “fear of the Lord” would be given to Jesus by the Holy Spirit and would be a delight (i.e. bring joy) to him:
And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him… the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD. And his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD. (Isaiah 11:2-3a)

15. What is the “Fear of the Lord”?
Many of the Proverbs speak of the blessing and benefit of having a fear of the Lord:
The fear of the LORD prolongs life… (10:27)
In the fear of the LORD one has strong confidence, and his children will have a refuge. The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, that one may turn away from the snares of death. (14:26-27)
Better is a little with the fear of the LORD than great treasure and trouble with it. (15:16)
The fear of the LORD leads to life, and whoever has it rests satisfied; he will not be visited by harm. (19:23)
The reward for humility and fear of the LORD is riches and honor and life. (22:4)

16. What is the “Fear of the Lord”?
So, pulling together a number of the passages that talk about the “fear of the Lord” such as those that we just looked at, we begin to see that, for the Christian, the “fear of the Lord” means something like this:
The life-changing, joyful awe and wonder that we experience as we look on the greatness of who God is and what He’s done.
In short, to “fear the Lord” is to experience the transforming power of knowing God for who He is.

17. How Do We Get the “Fear of the Lord”?
The fear of the Lord does not come all at once - it is something that grows in our life as we pursue it.
As we saw in an earlier lesson, the Proverbs tell us that we will grow in our fear of the Lord as we grow in godly, biblical wisdom:
My son, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you, making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding; yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God. (Proverbs 2:1-5)

18. The Ultimate Reason for Having a “Fear of the Lord”
Proverbs 20:9 asks the question: Who can say, "I have made my heart pure; I am clean from my sin"? The answer is: no one!
In Psalm 130:3, David asks a similar question: If you, O LORD, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand? (NIV) Again, the answer is: no one!
But then in verse 4 he gives us hope: But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared.
The ultimate reason that we should fear and revere God is that in love He found a way to satisfy His just wrath against us in the death of His Son on the cross!