Proverbs 29:25

The book of Proverbs gives us insights into so many different areas of life. The book gives us instruction on how to live our lives for God. Here is a proverb that gives us insight about the fear of man:

Proverbs 29:25 (ESV)

The fear of man lays a snare,

but whoever trusts in the LORD is safe.

There may not be a more important proverb for us to know in regard to living in society today.    God has given us a great lesson of wisdom to know before we get caught up in something in society that can hurt us.    In our society today we have a lot of "fear of man" issues.   Peer pressure is very much simply the "fear of man."   When we do things we shouldn't it is often because we fear that man will reject us or torment us or pressure us into doing something we don't want to do, or should not do.   The second line of this proverb is the antithesis of the first.  When we are trusting in The Lord we are not fearing man.  God is telling us, through Solomon, that if we want to avoid the snare that takes place from fearing men, we need trust God, rather than fear man.   When we trust God we are not going to worry about trusting men.   When we trust God we aren't caught in a snare.  God will be exalted.   The ironic aspect of this proverb is that when we fear man we want THEM to exalt us.   When we fear God, HE exalts us.  Man's exaltation is only temporary and eventually destructive.   God's exaltation is always good and always eternal.

This Proverbs warns us that to “fear” man is to fall into a snare. When we do things because we fear what man may or may not do we show that we fear man more than we do God. Peer pressure is simply another phrase for fearing man. When we fear God we do what His Word says no matter what men think. But, when we fear man we do what they want and neglect God's Word. Be careful who you fear!