Psalm 111:10

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom;

all those who practice it have a good understanding.

His praise endures forever!”

            What does it mean to fear the Lord? This is a question that has seemed to stump me for as long as I can remember. We always say to fear Him, but no one has ever really explained what this means. To fear the Lord means to understand His authority, follow His commandments knowing that they are right, and understand that He is just in all things. Sometimes we can get so caught up in the fact that He is our Father and someone that loves us deeply that we forget that He is righteous and just to punish or to take away. With my earthly father, for example, I know that my dad loves me and would do anything for me, but I also know that if I step out of line he will let me know and must discipline me. I have a healthy fear of him, knowing he loves me, but also knowing that he is my authority. This is how I view this aspect of fearing the Lord, He loves me and has a perfect plan for my life, but also will let me know when I step out of line because He loves me and want to see me follow His commandments. When we learn to fear the Lord in a loving way, this is when He gives us understanding and wisdom in situations we are placed in.

            I find myself forgetting that I have to fear the Lord and not just see Him as this big cuddly person who only wants to love and encourage me and never punish me. Then, when He does punish me, I don’t see it as out of love, I see it as anger and judgement out of hate. I struggle to remember that He is just because he wants me to grow and dive deeper into my relationship with Him. He is loving but He is also just. God is revealing to me more and more that those hard times where He brings something up in me that I don’t want to see and He convicts me of it, those things are out of love. He loves me, good or bad, He sees the mountains and the valleys of our lives the exact same way.

            My application for this is to write down the things God is stirring up in my heart that I may not like and share them with someone along with how the Lord has shown me His love through it.