“The fear of the Lord” is such a medieval sounding phrase.  In modern Christian thinking the emphasis is on the love of God, the blessing of God and the prosperity which comes from God.  God seems to be a kind of lucky rabbit’s foot whose purpose is to make us feel good about ourselves, our lifestyles and our future.
    The Hebrew original of “the fear of the Lord” occurs fourteen  times in the Old Testament.  The Greek phrase occurs once in the New Testament.  Acts 9:31 describes the early Christian church characterized by peace, numerical growth, and living in “the fear of the Lord,” “the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace. It was strengthened; and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it grew in numbers, living in the fear of the Lord.”
    Psalm 34 teaches us what  “the fear of the Lord” means,
“11 Come, my children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD.
 12 Whoever of you loves life and desires to see many good days,
 13 keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking lies.
 14 Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.
 15 The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their cry.”
    According to this psalm, living in “the fear of the Lord” is what the righteous do, characterized by turning from evil and doing good.  And the righteous are simply those who trust in Jesus as their Savior, as Romans 1:17 tells us, “For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: ‘The righteous will live by faith.’" This last phrase has the meaning of “those who are righteous by faith in Christ will live by faith in Christ!”  The righteous by faith in Christ live in the fear of the Lord!
    Martin Luther, the great reformer, in explaining the Ten Commandments in his Small Catechism, explains each commandment by beginning with the phrase “we should fear and love God so that...” and then explains how the believer in Christ lives according to each commandment.  Luther’s phrase “fear and love” captures the essence of this important biblical phrase “the fear of the Lord.”  The Hebrew word means reverence and awe.  Reverence for God is simply another way of expressing the biblical concept of faith and trust in God, so that we turn from sin and evil and trust in God’s promises centered in Christ, resulting in a life of doing good.
    So “the fear of the Lord” is what we all need in our lives.  And God gives it to us as a gift!  As Proverbs 14:27 says, “The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, turning a man from the snares of death.”      Pastor Peter Brechbuhl