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Proverbs 1:7 | “Whom Do You Fear?, Part 1 of 3”
Character, Conduct, Consequences
What is your highest goal or priority for 2026? As we begin a new year, many are making goals and plans for the year. We use the beginning of a year as a fresh start for different areas of our lives. Fitness and health and financial and relational and reading goals are all good. But what if the best way to reach them is by not focusing on them? Focusing on self-improvement over knowing God can short-circuit our goals to grow.
It doesn’t have to be either-or, but priorities matter. More than anything this year, do you want to become a different sort of person, with a healed and whole heart that then results in healthy and holy habits?
If so, how do you get there? You need to make sure you start in the right place. The Bible, especially the wisdom literature, shows us how God orders the world. It shows us that character shapes conduct and that conduct has consequences. Or, as one writer says, “What you are determines what you will become.”[1] Our interior life determines our actions, and all actions have outcomes, or consequences.
So the best way to meet your 2026 goals is to start from the inside out, or to begin with the things inside you, not outside you. The authors of The Mayo Clinic Diet know that “losing weight is less a matter of following faddish trends or restrictive programs than it is of becoming a certain kind of person…What people have to lose is not weight but certain habits.”[2] Or as The Mayo Clinic Diet puts it, “The most critical element of weight loss is what you bring to the table – your own personal drive to succeed.”[3] Character shapes conduct and conduct has consequences. This is how God wired the world.
The Centrality of the Fear of the Lord
Therefore, if our goal is self-improvement this year, we need to think about how people truly change, which means we need to think about the centrality of knowing God. We need to think about what the Bible calls “the fear of the Lord.”
This phrase is found dozens of times in the Bible, many of them in Proverbs:
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction” (1:7).
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight” (9:10).
“In the fear of the Lord one has strong confidence, and his children will have a refuge. The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, that one may turn away from the snares of death” (14:26-27).
“The fear of the Lord is instruction in wisdom, and humility comes before honor” (15:33).
“By the fear of the Lord one turns away from evil” (16:6).
“The fear of the Lord leads to life, and whoever has it rests satisfied; he will not be visited by harm” (19:23).
“Let not your heart envy sinners, but continue in the fear of the Lord all the day. Surely there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off” (23:17-18).
“Blessed is the one who fears the Lord always, but whoever hardens his heart will fall into calamity” (28:14).
“Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised” (31:30).
We see how important this phrase is when God says about Job, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil” (Job 1:8). And in how the book of Ecclesiastes ends, “The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man” (12:13).
Hopefully you see how central and foundational the fear of the Lord is for our lives. But what is it? Next week we’ll look at what opposes it, or the opposite of the fear of the Lord.
What is “the Fear of the Lord”?
First, what is the fear of the Lord? Usually, when we use the word “fear,” we’re talking about something we’re afraid of. But the Bible uses the word with a much wider range of meaning. In his book When People Are Big and God is Small, Ed Welch says the fear of the Lord is a spectrum of attitudes.[4]
On one end is terror because we’re unclean people who must give an account of our lives before the almighty God who is totally pure. He’s a consuming fire and we’ve sinned against him and deserve his judgment, so terror is an appropriate response.
This kind of fear leads us to run away from God, to hide from him like Adam and Eve did in the Garden. For those who aren’t yet saved, this kind of fear plagues their thoughts, though they work hard to suppress and ignore and numb it and explain it away. But this sort of fear won’t be camouflaged forever, as there’s a day coming when everyone will bow the knee before God in the fear of the Lord.
But as Welch’s continuum illustrates, we don’t have to stay in terror before the Lord. As we seek God, draw near to Jesus, and submit our lives to him, we start moving from left to right. We move from only knowing God’s justice to knowing his justice and his love. And this leads us to revere him, obey him, trust and worship him. As we grow in the fear of the Lord, we want to draw closer to God, rather than running away from or ignoring him.
Welch says that the Bible uses the same word for both terror-fear and worship-fear because both responses have something in common. They both understand that the Holy One of Israel reigns over all the earth, that the Lord is the King of the world, a just and merciful King.[5]
That God is a merciful King is why the Bible says the fear of the Lord is a blessing, “Blessed is the one who fears the Lord always” (Pro. 28:14). And why God’s forgiveness increases our fear of the Lord, “With you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared” (Ps. 130:4).
We’d think that forgiveness would lead to less fear, not more, but that’s not what it says. It says fear of the Lord increases with forgiveness. How can this be so?
Because “fear” doesn’t just mean “scared.” As some writers have described it, it means “worshipping submission,”[6] or to be “overwhelmed with wonder before the greatness of God and his love.”[7] Fearing the Lord is grasping God’s greatness and goodness and responding appropriately.
Let me try to illustrate this. Imagine finally meeting that famous person you’ve always wanted to meet. As they approach your heart starts racing and you can’t believe this is happening. It feels like a dream, it’s all so surreal. You reach out to shake their hand and you can’t believe what’s happening. Then you realize you’re trembling and sweating. You try to speak but you have shaky voice and you don’t know what to say.
What’s going on here? You’re not afraid of that person hurting you or punishing you. No, you’re nervous because they feel so big and you feel so small. You’re in awe of the person and you don’t quite know what to do with yourself. You’re captivated by their presence and you can’t believe you have the privilege of being in their presence. This is what the fear of the Lord is like.
Or it’s like someone handing you a priceless antique vase from the Ming dynasty. You wouldn’t be afraid of it hurting you but of you hurting it. Of course, as Christians we know that we can’t literally hurt God, but we’re careful before him because he’s the most valuable Person in the universe and because of what he’s done for us.
Michael Reeves describes the fear of the Lord like this:
“The fear which pleases him is not a groveling, shrinking fear. He is no tyrant. It is an ecstasy of love and joy that senses how overwhelmingly kind and magnificent, good and true God is, and that therefore leans on him in staggered praise and faith.”[8]
Do you fear the Lord like that? John Bunyan said that the devil tries to make us afraid of God so that we run away from him, but that the Holy Spirit does the exact opposite, seeking to win our hearts and draw us to him.[9]
Are you drawn into God’s holiness or afraid of it? Do you want to be near him or prefer to keep your distance? Those who truly know him, or fear him, will be drawn into the ecstasy of his love and glory because they understand what Jesus has done for them.
More Than an Attitude
But the Proverbs say that the fear of the Lord is more than just a spectrum of attitudes toward God. They say that it’s something even more fundamental, or that it should be. In Proverbs 1:7, it says that the fear of the Lord is “the beginning of knowledge,” and 9:10 says it’s “the beginning of wisdom.”
This means that the fear of the Lord is meant to be the first and controlling principle in our lives. It’s not a stage you get to and then leave behind. It’s not just a right method of thinking but a right relationship with God. It’s not just a gateway but the whole path of wisdom (15:33).
This is why this phrase in 1:7 is the motto of all the wisdom literature (Job 28:28; Ps. 111:10). A truly wise life is built on truly knowing God. And truly knowing God is what the fear of the Lord is about.
The fear of the Lord is more than an attitude. It’s when God becomes the biggest thing in your life. It’s when you’re captivated by his greatness and his goodness, when he’s more than a concept to you.
The fear of the Lord moves us from knowing about God to knowing God (9:10). It’s easy for God to be a concept but not the main passion of your life. The fear of the Lord is a life re-arranging, joyful amazement at the greatness and goodness of who God is and what he’s done.
The fear of the Lord means we don’t see God as an add-on in our life, or put him up on a shelf for when we need him. Instead we see him as the governing center of our lives. Everything is done in relationship to him. How we date and manage our money and spend our free time and pursue our careers and raise our children and love our spouse and serve the church is done with God in the center.
Growing in the fear of the Lord means no longer asking, “How can I use God to get where I want to go?” but rather, “How can I live my life for God?” It means not beginning with something else and then using God to get us there. Rather, it means beginning with God in the center.
This is the fear of the Lord, and it’s the most important thing you need to grow in this year.
[1]Bruce K. Waltke, The Book of Proverbs: Chapters 1-15 (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2004), 73.
[2]Kevin J. Vanhoozer, Hearers and Doers: A Pastor’s Guide to Making Disciples through Scripture and Doctrine (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2019), 30-1.
[3]Quoted in ibid., 31, emphasis his.
[4]Edward T. Welch, When People Are Big and God is Small: Overcoming Peer Pressure, Codependency, and the Fear of Man (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 1997), 96-8.
[5]Ibid., 98.
[6]Derek Kidner, Proverbs: An Introduction and Commentary, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1964), 59.
[7]Timothy Keller, with Kathy Keller, The Meaning of Marriage: Facing the Complexities of Commitment with the Wisdom of God (New York: Penguin Books, 2011), 68.
[8]Michael Reeves, Rejoice and Tremble: The Surprising Good News of the Fear of the Lord (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2021), 67.
[9]Ibid., 43.
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Character, Conduct, Consequences
What is your highest goal or priority for 2026? As we begin a new year, many are making goals and plans for the year. We use the beginning of a year as a fresh start for different areas of our lives. Fitness and health and financial and relational and reading goals are all good. But what if the best way to reach them is by not focusing on them? Focusing on self-improvement over knowing God can short-circuit our goals to grow.
It doesn’t have to be either-or, but priorities matter. More than anything this year, do you want to become a different sort of person, with a healed and whole heart that then results in healthy and holy habits?
If so, how do you get there? You need to make sure you start in the right place. The Bible, especially the wisdom literature, shows us how God orders the world. It shows us that character shapes conduct and that conduct has consequences. Or, as one writer says, “What you are determines what you will become.”[1] Our interior life determines our actions, and all actions have outcomes, or consequences.
So the best way to meet your 2026 goals is to start from the inside out, or to begin with the things inside you, not outside you. The authors of The Mayo Clinic Diet know that “losing weight is less a matter of following faddish trends or restrictive programs than it is of becoming a certain kind of person…What people have to lose is not weight but certain habits.”[2] Or as The Mayo Clinic Diet puts it, “The most critical element of weight loss is what you bring to the table – your own personal drive to succeed.”[3] Character shapes conduct and conduct has consequences. This is how God wired the world.
The Centrality of the Fear of the Lord
Therefore, if our goal is self-improvement this year, we need to think about how people truly change, which means we need to think about the centrality of knowing God. We need to think about what the Bible calls “the fear of the Lord.”
This phrase is found dozens of times in the Bible, many of them in Proverbs:
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction” (1:7).
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight” (9:10).
“In the fear of the Lord one has strong confidence, and his children will have a refuge. The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, that one may turn away from the snares of death” (14:26-27).
“The fear of the Lord is instruction in wisdom, and humility comes before honor” (15:33).
“By the fear of the Lord one turns away from evil” (16:6).
“The fear of the Lord leads to life, and whoever has it rests satisfied; he will not be visited by harm” (19:23).
“Let not your heart envy sinners, but continue in the fear of the Lord all the day. Surely there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off” (23:17-18).
“Blessed is the one who fears the Lord always, but whoever hardens his heart will fall into calamity” (28:14).
“Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised” (31:30).
We see how important this phrase is when God says about Job, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil” (Job 1:8). And in how the book of Ecclesiastes ends, “The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man” (12:13).
Hopefully you see how central and foundational the fear of the Lord is for our lives. But what is it? Next week we’ll look at what opposes it, or the opposite of the fear of the Lord.
What is “the Fear of the Lord”?
First, what is the fear of the Lord? Usually, when we use the word “fear,” we’re talking about something we’re afraid of. But the Bible uses the word with a much wider range of meaning. In his book When People Are Big and God is Small, Ed Welch says the fear of the Lord is a spectrum of attitudes.[4]
On one end is terror because we’re unclean people who must give an account of our lives before the almighty God who is totally pure. He’s a consuming fire and we’ve sinned against him and deserve his judgment, so terror is an appropriate response.
This kind of fear leads us to run away from God, to hide from him like Adam and Eve did in the Garden. For those who aren’t yet saved, this kind of fear plagues their thoughts, though they work hard to suppress and ignore and numb it and explain it away. But this sort of fear won’t be camouflaged forever, as there’s a day coming when everyone will bow the knee before God in the fear of the Lord.
But as Welch’s continuum illustrates, we don’t have to stay in terror before the Lord. As we seek God, draw near to Jesus, and submit our lives to him, we start moving from left to right. We move from only knowing God’s justice to knowing his justice and his love. And this leads us to revere him, obey him, trust and worship him. As we grow in the fear of the Lord, we want to draw closer to God, rather than running away from or ignoring him.
Welch says that the Bible uses the same word for both terror-fear and worship-fear because both responses have something in common. They both understand that the Holy One of Israel reigns over all the earth, that the Lord is the King of the world, a just and merciful King.[5]
That God is a merciful King is why the Bible says the fear of the Lord is a blessing, “Blessed is the one who fears the Lord always” (Pro. 28:14). And why God’s forgiveness increases our fear of the Lord, “With you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared” (Ps. 130:4).
We’d think that forgiveness would lead to less fear, not more, but that’s not what it says. It says fear of the Lord increases with forgiveness. How can this be so?
Because “fear” doesn’t just mean “scared.” As some writers have described it, it means “worshipping submission,”[6] or to be “overwhelmed with wonder before the greatness of God and his love.”[7] Fearing the Lord is grasping God’s greatness and goodness and responding appropriately.
Let me try to illustrate this. Imagine finally meeting that famous person you’ve always wanted to meet. As they approach your heart starts racing and you can’t believe this is happening. It feels like a dream, it’s all so surreal. You reach out to shake their hand and you can’t believe what’s happening. Then you realize you’re trembling and sweating. You try to speak but you have shaky voice and you don’t know what to say.
What’s going on here? You’re not afraid of that person hurting you or punishing you. No, you’re nervous because they feel so big and you feel so small. You’re in awe of the person and you don’t quite know what to do with yourself. You’re captivated by their presence and you can’t believe you have the privilege of being in their presence. This is what the fear of the Lord is like.
Or it’s like someone handing you a priceless antique vase from the Ming dynasty. You wouldn’t be afraid of it hurting you but of you hurting it. Of course, as Christians we know that we can’t literally hurt God, but we’re careful before him because he’s the most valuable Person in the universe and because of what he’s done for us.
Michael Reeves describes the fear of the Lord like this:
“The fear which pleases him is not a groveling, shrinking fear. He is no tyrant. It is an ecstasy of love and joy that senses how overwhelmingly kind and magnificent, good and true God is, and that therefore leans on him in staggered praise and faith.”[8]
Do you fear the Lord like that? John Bunyan said that the devil tries to make us afraid of God so that we run away from him, but that the Holy Spirit does the exact opposite, seeking to win our hearts and draw us to him.[9]
Are you drawn into God’s holiness or afraid of it? Do you want to be near him or prefer to keep your distance? Those who truly know him, or fear him, will be drawn into the ecstasy of his love and glory because they understand what Jesus has done for them.
More Than an Attitude
But the Proverbs say that the fear of the Lord is more than just a spectrum of attitudes toward God. They say that it’s something even more fundamental, or that it should be. In Proverbs 1:7, it says that the fear of the Lord is “the beginning of knowledge,” and 9:10 says it’s “the beginning of wisdom.”
This means that the fear of the Lord is meant to be the first and controlling principle in our lives. It’s not a stage you get to and then leave behind. It’s not just a right method of thinking but a right relationship with God. It’s not just a gateway but the whole path of wisdom (15:33).
This is why this phrase in 1:7 is the motto of all the wisdom literature (Job 28:28; Ps. 111:10). A truly wise life is built on truly knowing God. And truly knowing God is what the fear of the Lord is about.
The fear of the Lord is more than an attitude. It’s when God becomes the biggest thing in your life. It’s when you’re captivated by his greatness and his goodness, when he’s more than a concept to you.
The fear of the Lord moves us from knowing about God to knowing God (9:10). It’s easy for God to be a concept but not the main passion of your life. The fear of the Lord is a life re-arranging, joyful amazement at the greatness and goodness of who God is and what he’s done.
The fear of the Lord means we don’t see God as an add-on in our life, or put him up on a shelf for when we need him. Instead we see him as the governing center of our lives. Everything is done in relationship to him. How we date and manage our money and spend our free time and pursue our careers and raise our children and love our spouse and serve the church is done with God in the center.
Growing in the fear of the Lord means no longer asking, “How can I use God to get where I want to go?” but rather, “How can I live my life for God?” It means not beginning with something else and then using God to get us there. Rather, it means beginning with God in the center.
This is the fear of the Lord, and it’s the most important thing you need to grow in this year.
[1]Bruce K. Waltke, The Book of Proverbs: Chapters 1-15 (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2004), 73.
[2]Kevin J. Vanhoozer, Hearers and Doers: A Pastor’s Guide to Making Disciples through Scripture and Doctrine (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2019), 30-1.
[3]Quoted in ibid., 31, emphasis his.
[4]Edward T. Welch, When People Are Big and God is Small: Overcoming Peer Pressure, Codependency, and the Fear of Man (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 1997), 96-8.
[5]Ibid., 98.
[6]Derek Kidner, Proverbs: An Introduction and Commentary, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1964), 59.
[7]Timothy Keller, with Kathy Keller, The Meaning of Marriage: Facing the Complexities of Commitment with the Wisdom of God (New York: Penguin Books, 2011), 68.
[8]Michael Reeves, Rejoice and Tremble: The Surprising Good News of the Fear of the Lord (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2021), 67.
[9]Ibid., 43.