How much trouble could be averted by just contemplating this passage of Scripture! It is a sad reality that in many respects the quote from Psalm 36:1 as noted in Romans 3:18 There is no fear of God before their eyes, is ever increasingly the heart of our culture. Were it not so solemn, it would be a joke that sinful, perishing man would strut up to the Almighty Creator and shake his fist. How foolish and absurd!

The fear of God so expressed in Proverbs 9:10 is not some slavish fear like Adam and Eve when they hid themselves from God. That is the fear of this world. This fear ultimately returns to the world. The fear of God properly expressed is a loving, reverential awe of God that expresses itself in loving obedience. This fear is clean. This fear is healthy. It is like unto a child's fear of his father who loves him, but is over him, stronger than he is, and will discipline him when he is disobedient.

The arrogance, pride, and disregard for anyone or anything, except for self, is a plague that is running rampant unbeknown to so many. They wonder what is going wrong, why it is going wrong, and when the minister of the Word declares the Holy Scriptures, they quickly turn aside, to seek other counsel, instead of thoughtful consideration of the Word of God.

We can expect such from the world, especially as preparations are being made for the kingdom of the Antichrist, but even those who name the Name of Christ have become subject to the spirit of our age. We pierce ourselves through with many sorrows if we persist in this, for though God is longsuffering, God will not be mocked in the end. A professing Christian would find themselves to be of the number of merely professing Christians, not possessing Christians, if such a lack of fear is characteristic of their lives.

It is one thing to have the proper knowledge to know the necessary elements of the fear of God which is to have a reverential awe and careful obedience to God. To go further is to have wisdom, to be able to discern good from evil, the good, better, and best, and the bad, worse, and worst. But, understanding is to be respond in obedience, to apply the knowledge and wisdom in God-glorifying obedience from the heart.

There is much to be said for this fear of God, it is gives wisdom, knowledge, and understanding of the Lord, but also promotes worship, peace, holiness, and so much more.