Fear and Wisdom
Proverbs 9:10
10. "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
Sometime in 1987, I was driving along in my 1973 VW Super Beetle. I just finished a ministry program on the car's radio. It was a good message about how we as Christians need to fear God. It was a typical message from a radio preacher. The teacher made a very thorough case using many scriptures on how we are supposed to fear God, but absolutely nothing on why and what it actually means to fear God.
A little confused by the well referenced presentation, I felt the obvious concern that I should fear God, but the problem was...I didn't.
I shut of the radio and reached out to my Father to address my concern. "I don't understand Lord, I know I am supposed to fear you, but I don't. I know you are good and don't believe you would do anything to harm me. What then, does it mean to fear you?
The Holy Spirit of God responded by quoting a scripture: "Depart from me, I never knew you."
I immediately understood what it means to fear God...and I was absolutely terrified.
Since I can't add the awareness and understanding given by the Spirit, I will do my best to explain what He added to the message for me.
By hearing "Depart from me, I never knew you" I felt the great loss of all I hold dear in those words. It would be like coming home to hear the love of your life say to you "I don't love you anymore"
The thought of God saying that to me after seeking him with my whole life would be supremely devastating. I would run to jump into the lake of fire and gladly face eternal destruction rather than deal with the level of brokenness my heart would face.
It was then that I truly understood what it means to fear God. I do fear God, not that He will forsake me or hurt me for no reason, nor would He allow my harm in this world for no reason. He loves me, and I am terrified to lose that love.
I wont though, because I am His and that won't change, but the very fact that I feared losing God's love is the fear that began my living a life of wisdom.
If you don't love God, you won't fear God. If you don't know God you can't love God, and that is just not wise for anyone.