Those who know the Lord and know His love do not need to be afraid of him, for perfect love drives out fear. There is no fear of judgment or punishment. So if fear of the Lord does not mean being afraid of Him, what does it mean?

1) The first thing is that it means to recognize his deity and what He has done; to reverence, esteem him above all things, be in awe of him. It means to know that He is omnipotent – he knows what is best. He is the judge, and will bring everything into the light of His judgment eventually. He is holy. And it’s not just to know this in your head but to KNOW it to the depths of who you are, just like to fear something is not to be afraid intellectually but to feel that fear to the depths of who you are.

Think about our meeting here in this sanctuary. Do we come with proper respect, recognizing that the God of the universe wants to meet with us? Why would God come to a place where He is not respected? We want to come here in reverence, to create a sanctuary where He can be given the respect He deserves. Live your lives and create a place that gives him the respect he deserves.

2) The second thing it means to fear the Lord is this: Think about your greatest fears – rejection; failure; humiliation; conflict; your children going wild; your husband leaving you; whatever your deepest fear that strikes anxiety in the pit of your stomach. When you pay attention to that, you will understand what your heart is most after. What do you most fear losing? Your reputation? Your kids? A relationship? Whatever it is that you fear the most, that is your functional god, your idol, the one thing that really defines you and gives you value. You may be saved, but your real God is your reputation, or people’s opinion of you, or perhaps a relationship you have.

To fear the Lord is to come to a place where He is the thing you fear losing the most; it’s to be in a place where you would give up your reputation, your family, your friends, anything before you lose Him. Consider these two examples:

Genesis 22:9-12 When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. ¹⁰ Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. ¹¹ But the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, "Abraham! Abraham!" "Here I am," he replied. ¹² "Do not lay a hand on the boy," he said. "Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son."

Job 1:8-11 Then the LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil." ⁹ "Does Job fear God for nothing?" Satan replied. ¹⁰ "Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. ¹¹ But stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face."

Both Abraham and Job displayed their fear of the Lord because they were willing to give up everything else or endure anything that was brought their way but refused to give up on God, refused to lose Him or disobey Him. To fear the Lord is to reach that place where everything else can go, but you will cling to Him and obey Him.

This is the beginning of wisdom. As long as something else is your functional God, you will make decisions with that as your God, that thing telling you what to do. You will make decisions out of fear of rejection, fear of conflict, fear of failure. You will continually make unwise decisions because you don’t want to lose those things that are most important to you, instead of making wise decisions because all you really want is God.

Take a moment and do this: Look at every area of your life and ask yourself these two questions: Like Abraham with Isaac, are you willing to do whatever God says about this area whether you agree with it or not? And like Job, are you willing to accept anything that God sends in this area whether you understand it or not?

If not, then He is not your god in that area – something else is. Until you can reach a place where everything else can go but you will not give up God, you do not really fear the Lord, and you will continue to make unwise decisions.

The wisest thing you can do is to allow him to have his way; after all, he is infinitely wiser than you are. But you can not do that until you fear the Lord above all things