An often repeated refrain is 'the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.' What then is the fear of the Lord?
In this chapter we gain a partial definition, verse 13: To fear the LORD is to hate evil; I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech. There we have it, fearing God equates to hating evil and the author then suggests some things to hate.
Pride and arrogance… pride, overly impressed with oneself and one's abilities. When we impress ourselves with ourselves we become self-center and self-focused. Pride can do this. Pride also blocks our ability to see areas where we need help or need work/maturity. Pride also blocks us from seeing our need for God or our need for help.
A partner of pride is arrogance. These two words are from the same root, so they are two sides of the same coin. Arrogance is self exaltation… and like pride it is not hard to see how that leads to evil.
Hating evil behavior and perverse speech is more obvious, particularly when illustrating hating evil. Perverse speech is fraudulent speech. Perverse speech turns good into evil… it is the kind of speech that harms.
Back to the main thought… To fear the LORD is to hate evil. I never processed the fear of the Lord this way. It makes sense, since evil is opposed to the Lord and it makes sense that hating evil in any form shows fear for the Lord.
This is a new way for me to think about fearing God and I need more time to let it sink and soak in…
Oh God, wanting to live for You means I need to hate evil. I need to despise evil in any form. It is not enough for me to work for good, I have to stand against evil, oppose evil not only not indulge in it. Help me, Lord, to spot and take a stand that honors You against evil. I pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
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