Job 28:28 And he said to the human race, “The fear of the Lord – that is wisdom, and to shun evil is understanding.”
A few days back we discussed the fear of the Lord. If you recall, fear of the Lord is not an, “Oh, I am afraid of the big, scary God.” Instead, fear of the Lord is reverence for His holiness (Hebrews 12:28-29). It is awe and submission to His all amazing power and wonder.
Is the fear of God the same for the believer and the unbeliever? Not necessarily, because unbelievers usually do not respect or show awe to a God they do not or refuse to accept. If they do have a fear of God, it is probably an actual fear as we would interpret the term to mean. This would require them to actually fear consequences for sin – eternal separation in hell (Luke 12:5).
Compare that to the awe and wonder the believers have and you see two entirely different examples of fear of God. Without truly understanding God and His loving nature, it is difficult to have a healthy dose of reverence and awe. And without that fear we don’t truly demonstrate wisdom. We must first understand the nature of God to fear Him, seeing Him as righteous and holy (Deuteronomy 10:20-21).
Once we have the wisdom to fear God, we can honestly flee the evil and sin around us as we seek Him completely. We have the ability to trust in Him and treat what He says as more important. Thus, we have a better understanding of what to turn away from and instead of what to turn TO. We turn away from evil and turn to His ways.
In the case of Job, was he honestly being wise? Or was he thinking he was showing reverence to God yet still clinging to self? In his responses to his friends he defends himself repeatedly. But he makes a lot of “I” statements. It wasn’t until God challenged him directly that he repented and really demonstrated a fear of God.
Are you like Job? Are you thinking you fear God and show Him reverence? Or are you still defending yourself and thinking you are demonstrating wisdom? Spend some time in prayer and ask God to reveal it to you as He did with Job. He is faithful. He will let you know.
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