Living in Un-denial

(Proverbs 14:2 KJV)  He that walketh in his uprightness feareth the LORD: but he that is perverse in his ways despiseth him.

I was struck again by the place of fear in the spiritual walk.  Let me say it again.  Every time the word is used in Proverbs as a noun it is a part of the phrase “fear of the Lord.”  When it is used as a verb it is always as an action of righteous people. 

And the unrighteous?  You would think that they would have more to fear.  They do, but they live in denial.  Here it says he “despises” (959) God.  That means to look down on God.  How can someone look down on God?  The same way they would regard a child who tries to correct them.  Surely you have had that happen.  You do something you know it wrong and a child points it out.  How humiliating.  How lacking in fear.

Fear is healthy. 

So?  Next time you sing a chorus about Jesus being your friend, realize that He is also an object of healthy fear.