How do we navigate life well and all of its decisions with God’s wisdom? Many will say: “Listen to your heart.” Just a few verses earlier in Proverbs 14 we read: “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.” Our hearts can and often deceive us and lead us astray. The cure for this is cultivating a fear of the Lord. This fear is not a slavish dread, but a reverential, affectionate awe of Him… for who He has revealed himself to be and for all that He has done to rescue us. Fearing the Lord guards us against evil and fuels us to do what He pleases. Our verse teaches that the fear of the Lord leads to living according to God’s design. It may not be an easy life, but it is a life whose ultimate objective is to please the Lord. That is the provision that comes to those who fear the Lord. The verse concludes with the protection: the fear of the Lord galvanizes us to turn away from the snares of death. There are four kinds of snares that the Scriptures highlight:

• The snares of stubbornness and ignorance,

• The snares of pride and unbelief,

• The snares of accusation and apathy, and …

• The snares of bitterness and jealousy.

Why don’t you pray this simple prayer based on this verse? Lord, I am more prone to fear others than to fear you! Left to myself, the snares of death will trap me and lead to my spiritual demise. Reveal yourself to me in such a way that I stand in awe of who you really are, repent of my waywardness, rejoice that Jesus willingly sacrificed himself to rescue me, and then delight to do that which pleases you. Amen!