Most people in this world do not consider God’s will in their daily living.  The world has its own set of rules, and pleasing God is not a part of its agenda.   This is a result of a lack of godly fear.  The fear of the Lord is simply not present in the lives of the majority of people today.  Ironically, man has no greater responsibility than fearing God.

Ecclesiastes 12:13 (KJV)
¹³  Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.

Those who met this duty know what life is all about because they know God and understand His will.

Proverbs 1:7 (ESV)
⁷  The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.

The Hebrew word for “beginning” has the distinction of being on of the first words written in the Bible.  It can mean a few different things.  It often refers to the point in time when things happen, but, while that may be the first definition that comes to our minds when we see this word, it sometimes has nothing to do with time at all.  Sometimes the word refers to something being the highest or best in its class, or even to something being in the chief place of priority.  This seems to be the case in Proverbs 1:7.

Atheists and Agnostics have knowledge of some things, even though they have no fear of God.  They lack, however, the highest type of knowledge—the knowledge of God and His will.  Most people in the world, not only do not know God, they do not care to know Him.  Pharaoh epitomized this mentality.  When God, through Moses, told him to let His people go, his response was as follows:

Exodus 5:2 (ESV)
²  But Pharaoh said, “Who is the LORD, that I should obey his voice and let Israel go? I do not know the LORD, and moreover, I will not let Israel go.”

That is a response based on arrogance and ignorance, and because of it, Pharaoh lost his life and soul in the end.  Such will be the end of all those who do not know God.  Those of us who do know God think differently because fearing God is the top priority in our lives.  But, what does it mean to fear the Lord?

The fear that Solomon is alluding to in Proverbs 1:7 is not referring to horror or fright, but to a strong sense of reverence for God.  When we give God the respect and reverence that He deserves, we are demonstrating the highest degree of knowledge.  We are showing that we recognize God as the Creator of life and the Supreme Being in the universe.  We know where we came from and where we are going because we trust God and His Word.

This kind of knowledge, guiding us to fear the Lord, leads us to obey all of God’s commandments.  John said, “And by this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments” (1 John 2:3).  Let us show God that we fear Him every day, and let us do so by praising Him with the fruit of our lips (Hebrews 12:13), and by our daily obedience to His Word.

As you wind down for the night, think about these things.