Fear of the Lord

He will be the sure foundation for your times,

a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge;

the fear of the Lord is the key to this treasure (Is. 33:6).

I cannot think of anything the world has to offer that can come close to matching this promise from God.  Who among us would not want "a rich store" of salvation and wisdom and knowledge.  Imagine moment to moment having wisdom and knowledge at our fingertips!  Yesterday, I wrote about Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, turning to the Lord in a time of great national danger and saying, "We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you!" 

Almost every day of our lives, we are in a position of saying, "We do not know what to do...." but how many of us can say, "but our eyes are on you"?

On March 21, 2010, as I was recovering from surgery for lung cancer, I opened my Bible and read this:

The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame (Is. 58:11).  At that moment, I had been discouraged because just the week before surgery, I was walking to the beach and working in my garden for several hours a day.  Now, just getting from my bed to the bathroom was a struggle.  I wondered if my life would ever again be the same.  But that Scripture "caught fire" in my heart, and I grabbed onto it, even dating it in the margin of my Bible.

Now I look back on that moment with rejoicing.  The Lord knew just what to say to me when I was discouraged, to give me hope.  His ministry is new to us every morning; He does not speak once and then say, "I already told you."  Instead, He comes to us in the moment, wherever we are, and feeds us the bread of life, the Word of Wisdom and Knowledge and Truth.

"The fear of the Lord is the key to this treasure."  So many people do not understand that expression - "the fear of the Lord."  Many years ago, I was concerned because I did not "fear God," but I wanted to, because so many of the promises of God are linked in the Bible to "fear of the Lord."  So I boldly asked God to show me, to teach me, what it means to "fear the Lord."  I think we need the confidence to ask for what we do not understand, and to talk to God not with "Thee's" and "Thou's," but with the language we use every day. 

I don't think I can explain to anyone else what the Lord has taught me in this regard; I think maybe each person has to ask and receive that knowledge (like all other knowledge of spiritual truth) for himself.  But maybe I can just drop one small idea into the vast bucket of wisdom here.  I think "fear of the Lord" means to look to Him first for our Source of "salvation, wisdom, and knowledge" -- not traveling the world over looking for something or someone else to save/ help/ teach us -- but first seeking the Lord's wisdom and knowledge and guidance as our solution.  Yes, He will direct us to good doctors, healers, teachers -- but because we sought Him first.  He and only He is the "sure foundation for our times." 

Fear of the Lord has nothing in common with abject terror, and it goes far beyond the idea of "respect and awe."  If we read the entire 58th chapter of Isaiah, from which I took the March 21st quote above, we can begin to grasp the idea of fear of the Lord.  It means to orient one's whole life and being to God, to face Him always and everywhere as a sunflower turns to face the sun.  It means to look neither to the right or to the left, but to look at Him -- and then we shall be radiant with joy.