Fear the Lord and forsake evil.

Job 28:28 And this is what he says to all humanity: The fear of the LORD is true wisdom; to forsake evil is real understanding.

The fear of the Lord involves reverence, respect, reconciliation, regard, and reason. We think about God and discover who He is. We examine His claims about himself and life and come to the conclusion that He is trustworthy in all that He says. We seek to be right with God knowing that if we aren’t, we are in grave danger. We accept God for who He is and bow down before Him as our Savior and King. We acknowledge that God is holy, the judge of all humanity, and that we are accountable to Him for our lives. Knowing these things are true makes a man wise for he knows that he cannot take God lightly or his relationship with Him.

He who forsakes evil gets it. The reason why we exist is to be a holy people before God. We are not here because of some random act of nature. We exist because in the beginning God created us to be who we are so we could have a relationship with Him. He made us uniquely different from all the rest of creation. We have souls which can connect to God on a personal level. We have the ability to become one with God in love and holiness of character. We are in essence like God; we are spiritual beings. In creating us, God gives us life that will never die. He gives us the ability and opportunity to choose whether we will live with Him or apart from Him.

Real understanding is to forsake evil and live connected to God. It is seeking to live holy lives. It is taking God at His word and never looking back. It is living as if our lives and eternity really do matter. It is living as if God in His holiness really matters. It is to fear God.