THE FEAR OF GOD

In the Bible faith in God is also called 'the fear of the Lord'. Some people say that they don’t want a God whom they must fear. They imply that such a God must be a tyrant. Their objections overlook, however, the fact that the love of God has already been clearly manifested to us. It is He who has made us and placed us on this planet in the first place, and has opened the door to everlasting happiness for all of us, based simply upon the requirement that we acknowledge His trustworthiness and allow Him to lead us.
God wants to be a Shepherd to us. When He created us, He brought us into a dangerous universe where the forces of good and evil were already engaged in battle against each other. He created us as free moral agents, and with that moral freedom came the possibility either living forever (as a reward for righteousness) or dying (as the reward for wickedness). And God made our choice as clear and simple as it could be.
Those who discount the value of fear in our lives are really striking at the very foundations of human society. Fear is an essential part of our everyday experience. Our fear of death prolongs our lives and guides us to success in almost every important thing that we do. We generally view fearless people as dangerous, and as either uneducated, foolish or insane.

We teach our children to look both ways before crossing the street, and not to go with strangers, because we fear for their safety. Men dig down to bedrock before putting up buildings, bridges and dams because they fear the waste of wealth and loss of life that might result from carelessness. We pass laws about the proper testing and construction of planes, trains and automobiles because we fear crashes. NASA tests and re-tests its equipment and procedures, because it fears encountering some unforeseen event in space. The fear of lawsuits governs doctors and hospitals in the practice of medicine.
People who reject 'the fear of God' don't really have a problem with fear; they have a problem with acknowledging and obeying God. Fearing God is the ultimate foundation of all human success; it represents the wise path that God has chosen to someday lead people to a paradise where fear and death will be forever abolished.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

Proverbs 9:10

The fear of the Lord prolongs days, but the years of the wicked shall be shortened.

Proverbs 10:27