How do I FEAR the Lord?

Proverbs 1: 7
"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline."

What does it mean to fear the Lord? This is something a few of us have discussed over the years and tried to figure out. Are we supposed to be afraid of God and obey simply out of fear? I don't think that is quite what fearing the Lord means, but if not that, then what? Clearly it is something important because it is mentioned over and over throughout the Bible. At times I will be reading then I come to the phrase "Fear the Lord your God" and I'm kind of like "ahhhhh what does that mean? How do I take in this passage of scripture without fully understanding what that means?!"

Proverbs 2: 1-5
"my son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding, and if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God."

I encourage each of you (and myself!) to fully jump into our faith, not one foot in and one foot out. To completely immerse ourselves in scripture, prayer, meditation with the Lord. To LEARN our Bibles (or as the vs says, store up my commands within you). Lets stop reading and agreeing and start doing. Lets "Apply your heart to understanding, and call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding"! I want to FULLY understand how to fear the Lord, the way He wants me to. In order to do this I have to stop messing around. I am either going to fear him or I am not...it is as simple as that.

I will leave you with these few verses from Proverbs that are not necessarily about fearing the Lord but stood out to me in my reading this morning. By loving my 'simple ways' and 'complacency', it is getting in the way of fully embracing my fear, love, and devotion to the Lord.

Proverbs 1: 22
"How long will you simple ones love your simple ways? How long will mockers delight in mockery and fools hate knowledge?"

Proverbs 1: 32 "For the waywardness of the simple will kill them, and the complacency of the fools will destroy them; but whoever listens to me will live in safety and be at ease, without fear of harm."

Love Megs