Learn the Fear of the Lord

5 Basic Instructions for a Good Life

“The fear of the Lord” is a phrase that is often thrown around in various circles of Christianity. What does it mean, and why is it essential for our lives? In this teaching, David Levitt, dives into scriptures, specifically highlighting Psalm 34:11-14. He offers simple solutions for your spiritual growth with God, leading to the promises found in these scriptures becoming a reality in your life. Are you a person that desires a good life and wants to live long so that you can see much good in your life? Then this teaching is for you!

This article is just an excerpt from our eBook “Learn the Fear of the Lord – 5 Basic Instructions for a Good Life.” Download your FREE copy at the bottom of this page!

The Fear of the Lord is Not Complicated Yet it Challenges Us

Over the years, I have often made the mistake of approaching the Bible as a complicated book that must be figured out. Actually, it is a rather simple book, or more accurately a collection of books, that give very basic instructions on how to live a Godly life. And I think we would all agree that a Godly life is a good life. This is one of the reasons I love the Bible because it is basic, but even though it is so basic, it can be so challenging. I have noticed that the Bible does not really take into consideration our feelings, emotions, fears, self-justifications, or anything else when it comes to instructing us to do something. The Bible certainly speaks of God’s comfort in these struggles but still does not allow us to use them as an excuse to not be a doer of His Word.

Hearing and doing are two different things

The great news is that the Bible does tell us what we can expect as an outcome if we will do what it says. But again, the outcome will ONLY come after we do what it says. And even then, we do not know the timing of when the desired outcome will come. Ah, such is a life of faith and trusting God! It’s so simple, so basic; we just have to commit to following it, or more accurately, following Him!

I recently came across a passage of scripture that I have read many, many times in my journey, but the simplicity, weight, and hope of it hit me in a whole new way. The simplicity of it is that a four of five-year-old can understand this scripture and benefit from it. The weight of it is that there is a possibility of tremendous blessings or disastrous consequences depending on our response. The hope of it is that no matter where we may find ourselves in life, if we begin to do this scripture, we can turn around even the worst of situations.

Are you ready for it? It’s Psalm 34:11-14

Come, ye children, hearken unto me: I will teach you the fear of the LORD. 12 What man [is he that] desireth life, [and] loveth [many] days, that he may see good? 13 Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile. 14 Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it.

– Psalm 34:11-14 KJV

What is the fear of the LORD? It is respect unto the ways of the Lord, and it is the beginning of knowledge.

The fear of the LORD [is] the beginning of knowledge: [but] fools despise wisdom and instruction. -Proverbs 1:7 KJV

The knowledge of what?

The knowledge and understanding of how to live a good life.

The fear of the LORD [tendeth] to life: and [he that hath it] shall abide satisfied; he shall not be visited with evil. – Proverbs 19:23 KJV

Starting in verse 11 of Psalm 34, King David gives an invitation to the reader to come and be taught the fear of the LORD. He is saying if you will do these things I am about to tell you, then you will walk in the fear of the LORD, and you will get the blessings of walking in the fear of the LORD. We have to respond to the invitation and then hearken- that means to listen closely and examine our lives to implement what is being said. The fact that King David is saying he will teach us the fear of the LORD indicates that the reader does not yet know what the fear of the LORD entails. We may know in part, or we may have our preconceived idea of what the fear of the LORD is, but we must be willing to admit we need to learn more.

Come, ye children, hearken unto me: I will teach you the fear of the LORD. – Psalm 34:11 KJV

Do you desire a good life?

In verse 12, King David starts out his teaching on the fear of the LORD with a question:

What man [is he that] desireth life, [and] loveth [many] days, that he may see good? – Psalm 34:12 KJV

In modern English, we would say it more like this, “Are you a person that desires a good life and wants to live long so that you can see much good in your life?” A question is a powerful thing because it demands an answer. Everyone reading this question is processing in their mind whether they are going to answer “yes” to this question or “no”. You are either thinking, “Yes, I want to love life and see many days that I can see much good.” Or “No, I don’t really desire life.” Or, “I am indifferent to whether things go well or not.” (hopefully you answered “yes.” However, if you answered “no”, you may want to stop reading because you will be wasting your time from here on out.)

If you answered “yes” you are thinking about the areas of life you want to get better and are now much more attentive to how to accomplish it. This makes a person teachable. Within the question, King David is also giving us the guaranteed outcome IF we will do what is taught right after the question.

Here’s the deal:

If you are a Bible-believing person, believing that the Bible is the infallible Word of God, if you believe every precept is right and true, if you answered “yes” to desiring a better life and loving many days, if you believe that you can stick around and see lots of good things, then we must conclude that the ONLY way to get there is to practice these instructions continuously. I am about to give you the instructions, from the Word, in how to walk in the fear of the LORD.

Before we get to those instructions, I want to say that what is being brought forth from the scriptures must be processed and obeyed from the heart to be effective.

But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. 18 Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness. – Romans 6:17-18 KJV

These are not commandments and principles to hold over your head and show you all that you fall short in. That would be bondage. On the contrary, these scriptures represent our Father’s desire to teach His children the good way, the right way that preserves life and brings blessings.

5 Basic instructions for the Fear of the LORD

There are five basic instructions to fearing the LORD that will cause you to love your days and see much good:

Keep your tongue from evil.

This means do not let words and speech come out of our mouths that are contrary to the goodness and righteousness of God. I am learning something about what we say. What we say with our mouth is what is in our heart. It is how we really think and look at life and situations. We know one another; who we are and where we are at by how we speak. Jesus said that out of the abundance of our hearts (whatever fills our hearts) the mouth speaks.

A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh. – Luke 6:45 KJV

Often, when I am ministering and trying to help someone discern what is going on in their life that may be hindering the blessings of God, I will simply listen to them. After listening, I will usually hear something, a belief or a perspective toward God, others, self, and circumstances that are not Biblical. I will just repeat what they said and ask them if they realized what they just said. Then, I will give them the Scriptures that define how the Word instructs us to think about it. Just like that, we have discerned something that is hindering their freedom by the words of their very own mouth.

What are some examples of an evil tongue?

Complaining, gossip, slander, railing, backbiting, blasphemy, heresy, cursing, coarse jesting, boastings, swearing, and babbling/excessive talking. Jesus said let your yes be yes and your no be no, anything else comes from evil.

In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin: but he that refraineth his lips [is] wise. – Proverbs 10:19 KJV

But I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God’s throne: 35 Nor by the earth; for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King. 36 Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black. 37 But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil. – Matthew 5:34-37 KJV

This is by no means an exhaustive list, and a word search would turn up literally hundreds of scriptures that talk about all the examples I mentioned and more.

Why will keeping your tongue from evil benefit you?

I hear people often quoting the scripture that the power of life and death is in the tongue.

Death and life [are] in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof. -Proverbs 18:21 KJV

But I rarely, if ever, have heard why that is. It seems to me that most people just quote the Scripture thinking that there is some kind of superstitious, mysterious power of the tongue and that if you say the right things something in the invisible world shifts your way. And that if you say something negative, something in the heavenlies will be set against you. The truth is that what you say is what is in your heart. Our words communicate what we are in agreement with and what we believe, and that dictates our speech and actions, good or bad.

How do our words affect our lives?

Although it may be true that speaking out loud to spiritual things can have an effect (i.e., casting out an evil spirit by speaking to it), what we say has much more to do with how it affects us and the circumstances in physical creation that we deal with day in and day out. Let’s think about some basic cause and effect:

If you complain a lot, not many people will want to engage with you in fellowship.

If you gossip and slander, people will not trust you, and you may not be promoted in your calling.

If you speak heresy, then you will be rebuked, and shame may come.

If you defile others with bitterness, God will not forgive you. (Mark 11:26 KJV)

If you curse and use unclean words, you will always have the stress of trying to figure out who you can and cannot cuss in front of.

If you boast, it will be embarrassing when you fall.

If you swear, you have now bound yourself to do something whether you enjoy it or not.

The power of the tongue

These are very basic and general examples, but it is plain to see that our words truly dictate our circumstances and our fellowship or lack thereof with people.

Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth! 6 And the tongue [is] a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell. – James 3:5-6 KJV

We see that the tongue is what kindles matters (problems, issues, drama, etc.) and that it defiles others and ourselves, and sets on fire what would be better interpreted as creation. Creation is a mess because mankind has difficulty staying out of trouble when it comes to keeping their tongue from evil. And we have not even talked about lying yet – that gets its own section, which happens to be next.

Why we need a Savior!

At this point, it becomes very obvious that all of us need a Savior. A Savior that can offer forgiveness for the things we have said that represent death and not life. But beyond that, what will help us in this journey of keeping our tongue from evil? I think the solution resides in really learning the Word so that we can understand how to speak rightly into all things or when to have the wisdom to say nothing at all.

The heart of the righteous studieth to answer: but the mouth of the wicked poureth out evil things. – Proverbs 15:28 KJV

No one is born knowing how to keep their tongue from evil. We are made in the image of God, but we are born corrupt from the sin of our father, Adam, separated from God and the knowledge of righteousness. Keeping our tongue from evil does not just require refraining from speaking, but learning how to speak correctly from the Word.

This is just Part One of David’s eBook “Learn the Fear of the Lord – 5 Basic Instructions for a Good Life.” If you’d like to read more, click here!