What Does 'Fear of the Lord' Actually Mean? (Because It Doesn't Mean What I Thought)

I almost scrolled past it this morning.

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding." Proverbs 9:10 NIV

I read it and immediately thought — this doesn't make sense. Fear? Of God? I thought we were supposed to feel love. Peace. Safety. Why does wisdom start with fear?

I sat with it for a minute, and then it hit me: I don't think this is talking about being scared. I think it's talking about reverence.

Reverence is different from fear the way respect is different from terror. It's that feeling you get when you're standing at the edge of the ocean and you can't see where it ends. When you stare up at the night sky and realize the stars you're looking at are light-years away. When you stop and really think about everything God has made, everything He sustains, everything that keeps moving because He says so.

That's what the Bible means when it says "fear of the Lord." It means awe. It means you know who He is, and that changes how you walk.

Here's the thing — God is my Father. He's loving and good and full of grace. But He also has all power. The universe answers to Him. I know I don't have to be here. My life is here because of His grace, not because I earned it. So when I say I "fear" God, what I'm really saying is: I know who He is, and I don't want to act like I don't.

The devotional I was reading put it perfectly. It said if you want to know how something works, go to the expert. If you want to know how a car engine works, you don't ask your neighbor who's never lifted a hood. You find a mechanic. If you want to know how life works, you go to the One who made it.

And yet? We go everywhere else first.

We ask our friends. Our family. Our coworkers. We scroll through advice threads and buy books written by people who are also just figuring it out. We trust our own gut, which is the same gut that sometimes leads us somewhere we had no business going. I'm guilty of it too. And not just with life advice — with everything. I'm so used to being independent and productive and making things happen on my own that I forget to lean on Him. I forget that surrender is not the same as giving up.

Surrender is trusting that He already knows the plan. It's releasing your grip on the outcome and saying, Lord, you can do your thing. Because when I do that — when I actually let go — the peace that shows up is the kind Paul was talking about in Philippians 4:7. The peace that doesn't make sense. The peace that has nothing to do with what's happening around you.

That's the promise in Proverbs 9:10. When you start with God, wisdom follows. When you study His character, understanding follows. When you look to Him instead of the people in your circle — who love you but also have their own blind spots — clarity follows.

Here's what I walked away with this morning:

The people in your life are not your God. The habits you've built are not your God. Your ability to hold everything together is not your God. The only One qualified for that job already has it.

Let Him have it.

Study His ways. Look to His character. And when life doesn't make sense, stop asking the wrong people. Start with the One who made the world and knows exactly how it works.

That's not fear. That's wisdom.

Peace, Love and Joy always — Infinite Faith and Favor | InfiniteFaithandFavor.com