The fear of God is one of the most mysterious and important gifts in the Bible. The comprehension of the mystical mysteries and all the spiritual education of man depends on how this gift acts in the human heart, that is why all the teachers of wisdom like Salomon and Ben Sira have dealt with this spiritual gift in their books.
In a first instance, the fear of God is that common sense that is necessary to understand the designs and the providence of God, that is why the prophets when people did not have fear of God taught to us: "Hear this, you foolish and senseless people, who have eyes but do not see, who have ears but do not hear" Jeremiah 5:21.
The gift of fear of God is defined as constancy, firmness, devotion, equanimity, and stability. With this spiritual gift, the entire law of Moses is perfected, and a bond of perfection with the Lord is established, this gift is the beginning of the spiritual life.
For all this, the Master of Wisdom Ben Sira at the beginning of his sapiential book summarized this spiritual gift in a very interesting way:
"Those who fear the Lord do not disobey his words;
those who love him keep his ways.
Those who fear the Lord seek to please him;
those who love him are filled with his law.
Those who fear the Lord prepare their hearts
and humble themselves before him" Ben Sira 2:15-17.
And in this teaching, the master of wisdom Ben Sira made to us a distinction between loving God and fearing him, and this distinction is very important, because when the fear of God is perfected in the heart of man is when the love for God (Agape) and the gifts of wisdom, understanding, and discernment arise in the mind.
In other words, spiritual enlightenment, which is the perception of the truth with the mind, is fundamentally the perfection of the fear of God in the heart. The fear of God is the path to Gnosis.
The fear of the Lord is clearly more important than mercy, and when both gifts are intermingled, that is, when the fear is mixed with compassion, that is when the piety arises. Ben Sira called us to fear God more than men, we choose.
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