The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, all who follow His precepts have good understanding. Psalm 111:10
This fear in the Hebrew comes from the word “Yireh” which means “reverence and awe” .
When I was young, things were pretty intense at my house. So many times our family felt like we had to walk on eggshells or a volcanic eruption may occur. I loved the Lord then but some of those experiences influenced my understanding of what “the fear of the Lord” meant. I constantly felt this pressure to be a good little girl to win God’s approval.
God has been patient with me. As I grew in my understanding of the grace and tenderness of the Lord, so has my understanding of “the fear of the Lord”.
We see a familiar term “Yireh” which we may have heard of before: Jehovah Jireh, my provider. The source for everything truly good, pleasurable, joyful and peaceful comes from Him. So if we truly fear the Lord, we look to Him on how to do life. We follow hard after His commands because we have a high reverence that His nature is wise and kind. He is the God who delights in our well-being. Psalm 35:27
The root of Yireh is literally ” flow from the gut” . I am reminded of Jesus and His words to the Samaritan woman at the well. He offers her, and all who will receive from Him, this promise: “the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life”. John 4:14 “The Fear of the Lord” is more like water flowing from a faucet than fire and brimstone thrown down from heaven. He is just waiting for us to turn it on, not just a drop but a flow from the gut. When we pour out our hearts to Him in brutal honesty, it gives Him the opportunity to pour into us a comfort that is tangible. When we bring our daily needs before Him, it gives Him the opportunity to flood us with how much he cares for us uniquely. It delights the Lord when we look to Him to be our redeemer, help, guide, healer, comforter, savior, confidant, absolutely everything we could ever need or want. He desires to stream His heart and lofty notions into our thinking, our plans, our past, our pain, our future. He wants us to be more concerned with His vast affections for us than man’s fickle opinions. We are the faucet, He is the water line eagerly waiting to “Let His awesomeness flow into our souls, so who He is can flow from our gut to a lost and dying world around us. I hope today you and I will say with all our heart I, “Yes, Lord, let it flow!”
