I grew up Catholic. In mass we would chant this verse over and over, and I don’t remember it being meaningful to me. Back then, I could repeat this scripture in my sleep, and probably did.

It’s easy to sleep in church when your spirit is asleep. And this isn’t just a Catholic problem. The Protestant church is full of sleeping souls.

For years I was like this, resting in my religion, rituals ruling my life. In the pew, I found the power of repetition. Each Sunday, I sat there going nowhere, but going to church.

Stained glass and a stained life. I never knew there was power in the cross to cleanse until that holy night the stars opened wide and the angels held their breath waiting for me to breathe that first breath of salvation. At 33, I was born again.

I could smell God that night, the Maker of heaven and earth. Frankincense is the closest scent to describe Him. All my hair stood on end, His Spirit rolling over my senses, electrifying my body, and then fear overwhelmed me.

“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding” Proverbs 9:10. 

If you have never feared God, you don’t know Him. Cannot know Him outside of fearing Him. For fear is the beginning. Before salvation, before exaltation, there is fear. All your stained-glass shattering, all your sin mattering, because you will know your sin, the complete and utter wretchedness of it, before you know your Savior.

And there is nothing vague about this knowing. Specifically, deeply, desperately, you will acknowledge the evil you’ve done, and you will bleed. Your heart will burst open. And it won’t be enough. Nothing in you can pay for sin. The price is too high. The human heart can’t afford it. Only Jesus Christ broken on the cross can atone for sin.

Until you fear God, you can’t really know Him. If you are still saying, “Holy cow, holy moley or holy mackerel, you don’t fully understand the The Holy One. I hear these holies and worse out of Christian mouths, but the Word testifies: “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge,” Hosea 4:6.

If knowledge of The Holy One is understanding, how can we know the LORD, and not understand the profound meaning of holy?