The Fear of the Lord

I have devoted the past 10 years of my life to learning how to live a long and joyful life.  To partner with God for my health…eat right, exercise, be positive…these are all good things; but one thing is always on my mind…how to walk in The Fear of The Lord.

Last year Phil & I read Proverbs and Psalms together on a daily basis.  I decided to make a list of common topics…health, wisdom, the righteous, the tongue, faithful, love, discipline, prosperity and wealth, the fear of The Lord and long life.

The Fear of The Lord and Long Life are often tied together in Proverbs. 

Proverbs 10:27 – The Fear of The Lord adds length to life.

Proverbs 14:27 – The Fear of The Lord is a fountain of life, turning from the snares of death.

Proverbs 19:23 – The Fear of The Lord leads to life; then one rests content, untouched by trouble! (I like this one!)

I often think about The Fear of The Lord…it’s such a foreign type of statement…what does it mean, how do you do it?  What does it look like in real life?

My common sense and understanding of God’s character tells me God is not sitting up in heaven with a hammer waiting to pop me on the head; but why does the Bible talk about the Fear of The Lord and what does it mean?

I get fear…I’ve experienced some serious fears this year; fear for Phils’ life when he was so sick, fear of Gizmo growing in my belly…fear of doctors and hospitals and all the things that can go wrong…that’s a big one for me…and not to digress, but my sister told me that reading all the stories of people who had a Gizmo is like watching “Shark Week” before going surfing in Hawaii…ANYWAY… I’d much rather live in the Fear of The Lord if I just knew how!

Proverbs 2:1-5 tells me how to understand the Fear of The Lord (I have it written in the back of my Bible) and I do practice those things…but how to live it out…how to WALK DAILY in The Fear of The Lord?

Today I landed on Psalm 34:11-14…I’ve read it before but for some reason today God wanted me to see it…it tells me how to Do It – How to Walk in the Fear of The Lord!  Yay!

v11 says, Come, my children, I will teach you the fear of The Lord…hmmm…

1.  Keep your tongue from evil…well I already blew this one today by recounting a story of someone’s failure.

2.  Keep your lips from self-protecting lies (the Bible calls it guile)…it’s 1pm, I ok here so far.

3.  Turn from all known sin…just so you know I did repent of the evil that came from my heart and out of my mouth earlier today.

4.  Spend your time doing good…working on this one.

5.  Work at being in peace with everyone – seek peace and pursue it!  I’ll keep this in mind today.

I put it on my white board to get it into my head and heart…

So that’s it…lots of promises for those who walk in The Fear of The Lord.  

Once again, God doesn’t ask us to do the impossible, He doesn’t ask us to change mankind…he just asks us to use self control.  He’s just looking for people who will say “I’ll Be the One”…to deal honestly with others and seek His truth.

We can always blame our circumstances and other people but we will never have a long, joyful life until we stand up and start walking in The Fear of The Lord.

Have you ever thought about walking in The Fear of The Lord?  I’d love to hear your thoughts!