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To fear the Lord usually means to revere, adore, deify, venerate, glorify, worship Him. Rarely does it mean to flee from Him like you would flee from a roaring lion with teeth sharp enough to cut through bone.
The latter type bone-fear of the Lord is usually reserved for Satan and His minions who realize they are prophesied to try to flee from the wrath of God on the Day of the Lord.
“Can a man hide himself in hiding places So I do not see him?” declares the Lord. “Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?” declares the Lord (Jeremiah 23:24).
"And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do" (Hebrews 4:13).
Repent, believe in Jesus Christ and dedicate yourself to living under His moral code because there is no avoiding God no matter what you do: no matter what.
The Lord is not to be avoided if you are in His favor. Mankind could not avoid Him if we wanted to.
He is the sky, the air you breathe, the blood that gives you life, the rock you live under and the dirt you dig. He is your favorite place to view the sunset over the beach.
"What puts us in the Lord's favor," you ask?
Fear Him.
The things you do in darkness shall be revealed to the light, so fear the Lord's judgment for what it can do to your chances of everlasting life.
Everyone wants to live. No one wants to die - not even those who profess longing for the approaching Kingdom of Heaven.
The Lord is wholly approachable to whosoever believes in Him. He is even approachable by those who hate him like Lucifer the created, fallen from grace angel aka Satan.
If Satan approached the Lord today and told Him: "I fear you" And proved to the Lord that He does, then even the devil would be forgiven.
But this is not possible for the rebellious angel whose whole being is centered around destroying the people who revere God.
The dictionary defines revere or reverence as showing devoted deferential honor: to regard as worthy of great honor.
Reading this definition should give you, beloved, an idea of why the 10 Commandments instructs us to put no other gods before Him.
From Exodus chapter 20:
3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:
5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;
6 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
7 Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
The Lord is a jealous God, Meaning that he cares passionately.
Do not let anyone ever tell you that jealousy is a female trait.
Christians know that the Lord loves us with the passion of Christ: with fervent zeal, loyalty, mercy and love enough to be scourged, crucified, die, be entombed and to rise again.
He would like for everyone to worship Him, to be His people. He does not beg anyone to do so.
He does not want us to fall under the spell of those who willfully disobey Him.
As our Creator and Father, He knows what is best for us and as the Good Shepherd wants to keep us safely in His fold where He can guide and protect us.
That is the jealousy God speaks of.
The ability to fear God correlates to how much you know about Him.The more you have imbibed the wisdom and revelation of God’s character found in Holy Scripture, the more glorious He becomes to you. The more you see His beauty, the more you will have awe and fear and worship Him. Amen.
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