Proverbs 1:7 says;  The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.   Therefore, the LACK of fear of the LORD leaves people without God’s wisdom, knowledge, and instruction.  And that leaves them to rely on their own knowledge, which they think is enough to get by on, but in reality, it isn’t.
   When we hear “the fear of God”, it invokes feelings of “Why do I have to fear God?  Will He send a bolt of lightning and fry me if I don’t?”  In the Old Testament, when people didn’t fear the Lord, they didn’t heed His instructions.  And it ALWAYS ended up causing their destruction.  Is God a control freak?  Did God destroy them?  No, their disobedience did, they opened the door to destruction from the devil.  Things are really no different today.  We see destruction all over the world, in every nation, in every land.  Is that God’s will?  No, He didn’t send His Son to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved (John 3:17).
   Let me use Genesis chapter one to explain:
Gen 1:1  In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
Gen 1:2  And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
Gen 1:3  And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
That tells us the “default condition” of the world was darkness.  Then God sent His light upon it.  You’ll notice that on the shadowed part of the world, it was still dark, thus God divided the light from the dark.  Where the light shone, darkness was dispelled.  Where does darkness go when light comes?  We don’t know, but we do know that darkness has no power to refuse the light to shine.  Light always radiates outward from its source and illuminates everything in its path until it is blocked by a solid object.  The item blocking the light is itself illuminated, but everything past it in the shadow is still in the dark.
    We see the Word of God (light) going out to instruct the Israelites in the form of the Ten Commandments, which were etched in stone.  Moses gave instruction to the Israelites that they were to obey every word of God, and if they did so, they would be blessed.  In other words, where the light was allowed to shine, blessing would come along with it.  But not everyone wanted to obey.  The disobedient had no fear of God upon them, and disregarding His instructions, they chose darkness rather than light, and their disobedience brought the curse upon them. And that was not good.
    Now we know that due to the disobedience of Adam and Eve, they brought the curse not only upon themselves, but upon the entire earth, every fowl of the air, every fish of the sea, every animal was cursed and even the ground itself was defiled and cursed.  Before the curse, there is no record in the Bible of tornados, earthquakes, plagues, floods, war, poverty or heartache of any kind.  Everything was good.  And we like things good, right?
    But because Adam and Eve disregarded God’s instructions, and by showing no fear of God, they brought waste, ruin and destruction upon all the earth, upon themselves and all future generations.
All the earth groans under the weight of the curse. Rom 8:22  For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.   All through history, when mankind has rejected God, destruction has come upon them.  Not because God is a tyrant, but because without His instruction and protection, we just don’t have any chance of overcoming the works of Satan, who is bent upon destroying the earth and everything on it.
    At this particular time, exactly as prophesied in the Bible, we are seeing wars, and rumors of wars, famines, floods, earthquakes, tornados, hurricanes, cyclones, pestilence, famine and all manner of ruin and destruction in the earth.  It’s as if the very earth itself is trying to vomit its inhabitants.  I find that in the Old Testament, God warned the people of the effects of rejecting Him and His instructions, and refusing to obey Him .  He gave them some “Thou shalt not…” warnings, and what would happen if they disobeyed in Leviticus 18:
Lev 18:24  Defile not ye yourselves in any of these things: for in all these the nations are defiled which I cast out before you:
Lev 18:25  And the land is defiled: therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants.
Lev 18:26  Ye shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgments, and shall not commit any of these abominations; neither any of your own nation, nor any stranger that sojourneth among you:
Lev 18:27  (For all these abominations have the men of the land done, which were before you, and the land is defiled;)
Lev 18:28  That the land spue not you out also, when ye defile it, as it spued out the nations that were before you.
Lev 18:29  For whosoever shall commit any of these abominations, even the souls that commit them shall be cut off from among their people.
Lev 18:30  Therefore shall ye keep mine ordinance, that ye commit not any one of these abominable customs, which were committed before you, and that ye defile not yourselves therein: I am the LORD your God.

    Now, I don’t have to go into the “Thou shalt not” commands again, do I?  We have a Holy Bible and can read them for ourselves.  But anyone who persists in thinking they or their nation will be blessed for refusing God’s instruction is at best a FOOL!  They think they can commit what God calls “abominations” and get away with it.  Little by little, as people reject God, and teach their children to do so, they bring destruction upon themselves, their children, and their land.  They have elected leaders who want nothing to do with God or His ways, and they even curse Israel, therefore bringing curses upon us.  They are causing the earth to revert to its “default condition”, which is darkness, and giving the devil free reign to bring destruction upon us.  And we wonder why all this destruction is happening around us?  It’s because there is no fear of God in the land among the majority of people.  But God will protect those who are His.

     While initially it may be the fear of retribution for disobedience to God that makes some people fear and obey God, it is His great love and mercy toward those who obey, that draws them and makes them love Him so fervently.  You can read all about that mercy in Psalm 91, for that protection against evil is spelled out clearly for us.  It starts out “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.” But you can’t dwell there unless you understand the fear of God.  He only wants that which is good for us, and some people interpret “the fear of the LORD” as infringing upon their freedom, and they don’t want that.  They just don’t understand that God is the source of ALL blessings, and that all good things come from Him.  When bad things happen, it’s the result of the curse at work in the earth, and the curse is the result of Satan deceiving people on the earth.  But when we have the fear of the LORD operating in our life, the devil will be prevented from destroying us.  It’s our choice.  God told us in Deuteronomy 30:19, I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:  God not only gave us a test, but gave us the right answer, too.  See how He loves us?  He wants us to be blessed in every area of life, and it begins with the fear of the LORD.