Proverbs 9:10 says, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,
And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding."
I think the problem that a lot of us have with "the fear of the Lord," is that
fearing God seems to but heads with the idea that God is gracious.
If God is so gracious, then why do we need to fear Him?
In Proverbs 9:10 we see that "the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding."
You cannot have wisdom if you do not have the fear of the Lord.
and the fear of the Lord first requires you to believe that God is who He says He is,
and you cannot have an accurate description of God's character unless you're looking in His word.
1 John 3:19-20 says,
"We will know by this that we are of the truth,
and will assure our heart before Him in whatever our heart condemns us;
for God is greater than our heart
and knows all things."
So the first aspect of God's character that we see in this verse is
that God knows everything.
God is all-knowing
And then, 1 Peter 1:15-16 says, "but like the Holy one who called you,
be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written,
"You shall be holy, for I am holy."
In this verse we see that God is also Holy.
And then in Acts 17:30-31 it says, "Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance,
God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent,
because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness
through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men
by raising Him from the dead."
So far we have seen that God is all-knowing,
that God is holy, and that God is a rightous judge.
In the last day He will judge the world in righteousness.
If we truly believe God is who He says He is,
and who His word says He is - All-knowing, holy, and a judge,
then when you and I measure our simple lives up against a God like that,
we've got something to be afraid of.
Now you're probably saying, "Wait a minute, I thought God was full of grace,
where does that fit in?"
There's another very important aspect of God that the Bible reveals to us.
And that is that God is love.
1 John 4:8 says, "The one who does not love does not know God,
for God is love."
So because God is all-knowing He cannot simply ignore our sin,
and because He is Holy,
We cannot have fellowship with Him in our sinful state.
And because He is a righteous judge, our sin must be paid for,
but that is a payment that no man can ever make.
But because God is love,
He decided to pay the price for the sin, Himself,
by sending His only Son, Jesus,
to die on a cross in our place
so that the Grace of God might be extended to us.
Romans 6:23 says, "For the wages of sin is death,
but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Because we have heard that God is gracious it is easy for some of us to say,
"Well I am covered by grace," and just move on,
assuming that we don't need the fear of the Lord.
But the truth is that if you don't fear God
then you don't know Him for who He is.
And if you don't know Him
then you cannot accept His Grace because you do not know Love,
1 John 1: 9 says, "If we confess our sins,
He is faithful and righteous
to forgive us our sins
and to cleans us from all unrighteousness."