Now here comes a Bible definition; we all have our Bible definitions: I John 3:4 - sin is the transgression of the law; John 17:3 - eternal life is to know God. Now for the Bible definition of the fear of the Lord:
That is what the fear of the Lord is - to hate evil, pride, arrogance, and the evil way. That is why the woman pleases God and receives that praise. The knowledge of God, which is instilled as a gift, compels, or constrains one to depart from evil. In other words, it leads one to keep the commandments of God.
The person makes the choice to do what is right and good and, thereby, evidences his inward disposition, his inward attitude, and proves what is in his heart by what we see on the outside - his conduct. He departs from evil. God is taken into account in his life and in every circumstance, in every aspect, and in every situation God is thought of and the choice is made to do it God's way. The person learns to hate evil and to love to do what is right and good and pleasing to God! Godly living is the fear of the Lord!
The obverse of the coin is true, too. If the fear of God is to hate evil, then the fear of God is also to live a godly way of life. The fear of the Lord is filled with moral content.
If one truly fears God, then God becomes a place of refuge. And even though there is, indeed, a measure of fear there, a shift begins to occur in our reaction to it. We begin to run from that which we would like to do (carnally and naturally/evil and sin) as if it were a rattlesnake and we, then, run toward God!
With this understanding we may be able to now measure how much (or how little) we fear God. Do we run from sin, or run into sin? Do we play with sin and dawdle over it - thereby tempting God with it? Can we see that this is something that does not come naturally, that it is something that has to be given and something that has to be learned?
