Prov 8:13 [ESV] The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate.
In my life I have known fear – fear of violent people, fear of extreme heights, fear of very tight enclosed spaces. All these fears have at times been confronted and overcome. But there is another fear hey? The “fear of God”. How does that impact my daily life? I think as a young Christian I had some experiences of a closeness with God, where my spirit and hearts craved a feeling of even greater closeness with God, yet my flesh asked Him not to come any closer as I could not bear it. The fear of God is not something we can deal with in one sitting and somehow be at ease with it, not if we are serious about seeking God. The element of reverence is one that propels us to action, to obedience.
My own reverence of God has me question myself daily, asking myself “what do I need to change, what is God’s word convicting me of right now?” There is a living tension between the understanding that I am fully pleasing and accepted by God right now as I am, and the understanding that God wants me to grow to be more like Jesus each day. And the right use of the word “fear” lives there somewhere.
KNOWLEDGE – I think “fear” is one of the most profound words used in scripture. It goes quickly and accurately to the root and heart of our relationship with God. He is truly “awesome” in the original meaning of the word from the early fourteenth century (English word fyrhto – feeling of dread and reverence for God). The word “awe” has a. root in the Greek “akhos” – “a sense of dread mixed with admiration and/or veneration”
UNDERSTANDING
Let’s pick one word from this verse to look closer at and see if that can help us gain a deeper insight into how God would love us to live?
The word used for “fear” is pronounced as “yu’ah” in Hebrew and carries the meaning of fear, reverence, piety, and respect. This is not a craven fear, but one that has great reverence as well as hope and love. The LXX word used is φόβος [phobos – from which our word phobia is found] This word is used forty-seven times in the New Testament and is used both for when it is actual fear [e.g. John 20:19], and also in verses such as Acts 2:43 when it is ” a sense of awe”.
WISDOM
What do I truly hate?
STRENGTHS THOUGHT: Harmony as a Gallup Strength has a desire to bring peace into situations that are stressed. When Harmony is at its best it knows what voices to call in and when to call them in, and also how to negotiate without damaging compromise. Don’t fall into the trap of feeling like you “need peace” and giving away valuable ground in the pursuit.
Allan’s Unauthorised Version – Fear conjoined with love and hope (reverence) of my personal and covenantal God makes an enemy of wickedness and disagreeable qualities. Pride and self-glory and the path of life of wickedness and confusing testimony is an adversary.
The fear – The fear conjoined with love and hope (reverence)
of the Lord – of my personal and covenantal God
is hatred – makes an enemy
of evil – of wickedness and disagreeable qualities.
Pride – Pride
and arrogance – and self-glory
and the way – and the path of life
of evil – of wickedness
and perverted – and confusing
speech – testimony
I hate – is an adversary.
PRAYER: Father, thank you for today. Help me to walk away from anything that is out to bring confusion or tempt me to self-glory. And that my testimony will always point to you and your goodness.
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