When I was growing up there was an old abandoned building on the edge of town that my friends and I just knew was haunted. It stood crumbling and decaying at the end of a long gravel road with six-foottall weeds and brush growing on either side. On cool Fall nights, my friends and I would test our bravery by seeing just how close we could walk down that winding road, the wind rustling through the weeds, sounds encroaching from all sides, and then the looming presence of the old building rising out of the darkness, usually we would find ourselves sprinting back for the main road before we ever got close to the venturing inside.
I’m sure many of you reading this story have had similar experiences. Everyone seems to have had that haunted house in their town growing up. Perhaps the legend still hasn’t abated even to this day. But my friends and I eventually traveled to this “haunted building” in the middle of the day one weekend. What we found was an old abandoned office building that had once been used as both a radio station and a travel agency. The floor wasn’t littered with bones or spooky paraphernalia, it was littered with old floppy disks and vacation brochures to the Bahamas (I know, frightening stuff!). We left our childhood haunts a little disappointed, realizing (at least in the light of day) that there was nothing really to be scared of.
Did you know that the Bible mentions two specific types of fear? The first type of fear is fear of the Lord. This type of fear does not necessarily mean to be afraid of something. Rather, it is a reverential awe of God, a reverence for His power and glory. However, it is also a proper respect for His wrath and justice. In other words, the fear of the Lord is a total acknowledgment of all that God is, which comes through knowing Him and His attributes. This fear is known as yir’â Yᵊhōvâ (ה אְָרהָוֹהְי ) and can be found throughout the Bible, such as Proverbs 1:7, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.” It would make sense that reverence and piety towards the Lord would lead to a better understanding and openness to instruction. Something that we should all embrace.
