What do you fear? Or, whom do you fear? A common fear we battle is the fear of failure. I was on a panel of pastors once. We were asked what we feared most as a pastor. My response was that I feared misinterpreting the Bible and wrongly teaching it to our church. Another pastor very honestly responded that he feared failing as a pastor. So many of us fear failure. We fear failure with their friends. We fear being avoided or being rejected by our friends, not getting many likes on Facebook. We obsess over getting a “B” in school. We fear failure in our marriage. We fear our children will go astray or not succeed in life. We fear as the honest pastor failing in our careers. We consternate over losing our job, not getting that raise or promotion or recognition for hard work.
The YouVersion app is the most popular Bible app in the world. One hundred million people have the YouVersion app on their phones. I have this app on my phone. Back in 2020, the YouVersion Community had nearly 600 million searches within the app, an 80% increase over the previous year. The owner Bobby Gruenewald said the COVID-19 pandemic was part of the reason for the increase in people turning to the Bible.
The most searched 2020 YouVersion Verse was Isaiah 41:10: “Don’t be afraid.”
I drew two conclusions from this phenomenon. One conclusion is this: People are plagued with fear, and the second is, thankfully, many people are turning to God’s Word for help.
The Bible addresses fear. God’s Word teaches us what not to fear and it teaches us what or whom we should fear.
1. What we should not fear
First, we should not fear people
“The fear of the man brings a snare: but whoso puts his trust in the Lord shall be safe” (29:25).
In Deuteronomy 1:29, Moses told the children of Israel to not fear the Canaanites whom the ten spies had described as giants: Don’t “fear them.” The Israelites did fear them and missed the will of God for forty years. Moses then added, “You did not believe the Lord your God” (Deut 1:32). The writer of Proverb 29:25, states that if we do not fear man but trust in the Lord we will be safe. The fear of man can cause an unsaved person not to trust Christ as I did many times during the invitation at church. I would argue with God, “What would my friends at school think” which held me back from responding and trusting Christ. Finally on February 8, 1971, with the Lord’s help, I trusted Christ as my Savior. This fear of what people would think was conquered.
Next, the writer of Proverbs tells us not to fear the dark
“When you lie down, you shall not be afraid” (3:24)
This proverb promises peaceful sleep at night. No “night terrors” from anxiety for the trusting child of God. Perhaps Solomon learned this promise from his father David. When David’s other son, Absalom forced his father from the throne, David had to flee for his life from his own son. In Psalm 3, David voiced his brokenness and asked for God’s protection. In 3:5, David testified that he laid down and slept. In 3:6, David confidently affirmed, “I will not be afraid of ten thousand” of his enemies. Sometimes our enemies at night are the unresolved problems we dealt with before we went to bed or the problems out of our control but keep us awake. We can rest in the promises of God who is greater than any problem. What issue keeps you awake at night? God is greater!
Finally, we should not fear the future
The believer does not have to fear what the unsaved should be fearing in their eternal future: “Be not afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation of the wicked, when it comes” (3:25). Solomon had already warned his son about the fearful fate of the rejecter of God’s salvation in Proverbs 1:27-29. Believers do not fear future punishment. Believers have the assuring promise in Romans 8:1 “There is therefore now no condemnation for them in Christ Jesus.”
The virtuous wife and mother in Proverbs 31:21 was not afraid of the future in this life for her family. Because she feared the Lord (31:30) she worked hard and smart and made provisions for her family. She paid before she played. We cannot reverse this strategy. The excellent woman in Proverbs 31:10-31 helps us transition to whom we should fear.
2. We should fear the Lord
We don’t fear the Lord’s punishment unless we are living in sin. God warned His children in the Old Testament in Deuteronomy 28:58-59 that if they did not obey Him and “fear this glorious and fearful name” they would be punished. It is like when a highway patrolman pulls behind you. You are driving 55 miles per hour in a 55-mile-an-hour speed zone, your inspection sticker is up to date, and your seat belt is fastened. Consequently, you are not afraid of the highway patrolman looming in your rearview. But if you are speeding at 75 in a 55, your inspection sticker is expired, your seatbelt is not fastened, and the blue light is flashing, fear shoots through your entire being.
If we are living in fellowship with the Lord, John reassures us “There is no [immature] fear in love, but perfect [mature] love casts out fear” [this kind of immature fear of punishment] (1 John 4:18).
The fear of the Lord begins with salvation
Solomon declared the starting line for the fear of the Lord in Proverbs 1:7, which many Bible students believe is the motto of the book of Proverbs: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.”[1] In Proverbs 9:10, Solomon slightly changes the wording: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”[2] This is when the unbeliever exits the road of the fools and makes a hard right onto the road of the wise.
During the storm, where Jonah is swallowed by the great fish, he told the pagan Phoenician sailors who worshiped false gods, on the ship that was about to sink, “I fear the Lord” (Jonah 1:9) or I am a believer in “the God of heaven who has created the sea and the dry land.” The sailors became “afraid .... for the men knew that he fled from the presence of the Lord.” When the sailors cast Jonah overboard, the storm immediately stopped. “Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice unto the Lord.” The sailors became believers in the one true God. They began their voyage among the wise. They experienced Proverbs 1:7 and 9:10.
The fear of the Lord continues with knowledge
There are two parts to the fear of the Lord. First, we must recognize who the Lord is before we can respond properly to him. Roy Zuck defines the fear of the Lord: “To fear God means to recognize His deity and thus, respond in awe, humility, worship, love, trust, and obedience.”[3] Here are other examples of the two parts of the fear of the Lord.
In Exodus 14:31, the fear of the Lord was recognizing the power of God in parting the Rea Sea and responding with faith.
In Job 28, the fear of the Lord was recognizing the wisdom of God and responding by departing from evil.
In Ecclesiastes 12:13, the fear of the Lord is recognizing that life is all vanity without God, and responding by keeping God’s commandments.
In Proverbs 9:10, Solomon declares we must recognize that the Lord is “holy.” The fear of the Lord is parallel with the knowledge of the Holy. Isaiah in his transforming vision of the Lord saw the seraphim in the Lord’s presence incessantly crying out, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.” After Isaiah recognized the Lord’s holiness, Isaiah responded, “Woe is me for I am undone I am a man of unclean lips.” When we recognize who the Lord is, that He is holy, Proverbs informs us of two appropriate responses.
First, we depart from pride
“The fear of the Lord is to hate evil: pride” (8:13). God hates pride and so should we. In Proverbs 16:18, Solomon warned, “Pride goes before destruction.” In pride, we exalt ourselves instead of exalting God. Jesus warned: “Whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased, and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted” (Mt 23:12). James added, “God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6). We can only depart from pride when we humble ourselves.
Next, we humble ourselves
“By humility and the fear of the Lord are riches, and honor, and life” (22:4).
Humility and the fear of the Lord are fraternal twins. Humility is the response to whom the Lord is in the fear of the Lord. God is holy and hates pride, so we humble ourselves to please Him. When we humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God, this Proverbs describes as “life.”
A fountain of life
In Proverbs 14:27, this life is called “a fountain of life.” It does not rain in the Middle East eight months out of the year. Humbling ourselves before God is like bottled water pulled out of the ice chest when you are working outside in the blazing sun. Before we sold Mom’s house a couple of weeks ago, I was push-mowing her 1.1-acre yard plus our yard. On those humid days, my bottled water kept me going. The fear of the Lord and the resulting humility is a fountain of life that keeps us spiritually refreshed in our service to Christ.
In Proverbs 10:11, Solomon added a specific result of the fountain of life: “The mouth of the righteous is a well of life” for others. Last Sunday we learned the words of an encouraging believer are like fruit on the tree of life. Our words that flow out the abundance of our humble hearts can renew others in their inward man.
Every once in and while a church member, friend, or student will say something nice on Facebook and just lift my spirits. Encouraging words are so powerful. They change our mood and energize our ministry. Then in Proverbs 13:14, we learn that the teaching of God’s Word is also a fountain of life for those who will hear and obey. Pride will dry up this well of blessing for us who preach and teach God’s Word.
Warren Wiersbe quoted “The saintly Scottish preacher James Denney [who] said, ‘No man can bear witness to Christ and to himself at the same time. No man can give the impression that he himself is clever and that Christ is mighty to save.’”[4] Let’s ask the Lord to empower us to experience Paul’s exhortation to his son in the faith, Timothy: “For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control” (2 Tim 1:7).
[1] Bruce K Waltke similarly contended that the fear of the Lord “is the motto of the book” (“The Book of Proverbs and Ancient Wisdom Literature” in Learning From the Sages, 49).
[2] NetBible, “beginning” = first step in a course of action (e.g., Ps 111:10; Prov 17:14; Mic 1:13). Roy Zuck stated that the fear of the Lord is “the starting point of wisdom” (Learning from the Sages, 215). Allen P. Ross agreed that the fear of the Lord “is the evidence of faith” (The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, 890). Derek Kidner connects the fear of the Lord to “Conversion: a turning from evil – for ‘the fear of the Lord’ (which is the beginning of wisdom, 9:10) ‘is to hate evil’ (8:13; cf. 3:7b) – and from one’s cherished independence, that way that ‘seems right to a man’ (14:12); positively, a turning to the light; indeed to God’s salvation (Derek Kidner, Proverbs (Kidner Classic Commentaries, InterVarsity Press. Kindle Edition, 35-36).
[3] Roy Zuck, A Biblical Theology of the Old Testament, 215.
[4] Warren W. Wiersbe, Be Skillful, Kindle Edition.