“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
I wrote of the fear of the Lord the other day, but this is a great definition of terms presented in a nice if/then proposition.
If the fear of the Lord is to hate evil,
And evil is pride, arrogance, the evil way, and the froward (or perverse) mouth,
Then I hate pride, arrogance, the evil way, and the froward (or perverse) mouth when I fear the Lord.
I find this logically sound and true from experience.
The closer I get to my Savior, the more I detest these traits in myself and others. The more I fear God, the harder I try to purge pride and profane speech from my life.
And I notice that when I become arrogant, I have usually stopped fearing the Lord for a season.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Proverbs 9:10).
It’s an ebb and flow because I am not perfect and I battle my flesh daily. I always ask for wisdom so I can catch myself slipping in my daily walk before I fall.
Thank God that one day (soon and very soon) I will be given a glorified body that no longer sins. This struggle of flesh vs spirit will be over forever, and I can fear and love God for all eternity without temptation or wickedness standing in the way.
Hallelujah!
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