"The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth do I hate."
Proverbs 8:13
Part 1
It is a wise man who learns what God loves and hates and then emulates Him. As we understand and practice the fear of the LORD, we learn how His “way of life” runs opposite of our Genesis 3 natures. The higher our reverence for the LORD becomes, the more we love what He loves and hate what He hates.
“The fear of the LORD.”
The one who does not “fear the LORD” does not know the LORD. Our proper relationship and reverence to our God are what we need and what He desires for us. The “fear of the LORD” is where our love for Him begins. As we grow closer to Him, our “respect” deepens, and this “reverential awe” matures in us.
“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction” (Proverbs 1:7).
“Is to hate evil:”
The way we can know we are rightly fearing God is by hating sin. It is an interesting dilemma that we find ourselves in, we can keep away from doing a sin (evil) but still love it. A child may like something that the scripture says is sinful, but not be able to do that sin because his parents are very watchful. A student may desire to cheat on a test but cannot because of the diligence of the proctor. Just because we do not participate in certain sins does not mean that we hate them, it may only mean that we can’t partake in them at the present time for one reason or another. It also could be true that we might not participate in a sin that we desire, only because we fear the consequences more than we want the pleasure of that sin. Fearing sin’s consequence is not the same as “fearing the LORD.” The key to the believer’s right relationship to sin (evil) is found only in a proper “fear of the Lord.”
“A man may “depart” from evil from policy, while he loves it in his heart. But to “hate” it comes only from Divine wisdom”1 (Bullinger).
Do you genuinely “fear the LORD?” What keeps you from sinning? Come back tomorrow, and we will talk about our sinful hearts and our pride.
1. E.W. Bullinger, The Companion Bible, the electronic version in eSword.