Proverbs 8:13

The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate.

On the surface, this verse seems to say that to respect the Lord is to hate the things He hates. But what we can easily miss is the intensity in this verse.

“Fear” refers to reverential respect and awe for the Lord. When the word is used to mean “being afraid of something”, it means to be terrified, to be frightened. It is not referring to “mild caution” but intense fear.

In the same way, the word “hate” doesn’t just mean a mild dislike of something, but an intense disgust, i.e., to be highly offended.

So the question for you is, “How intense or deep is your fear (respect) for the Lord?”

Too often we fall into the sea of “casual” with the Lord, where our intensity for the Lord is relatively “shallow”: “I will think about You when I need You. I will call You when I want something. Oh hey, how ya doing? Oh, You don’t like those things?”

But we need to start working towards an intensity in our relationship with Him…like you would have if you fell off a boat into deep water without a life jacket.

Start to love the Father like He loves you…with intensity.