What does it mean to fear God?

The simple answer here is the motivation of fear. Jesus tells us: “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.” ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭10‬:‭28‬ ‭ Righteous fear has to do with valuing what God thinks of us high above what others think of us, and not fearing our circumstances. Unrighteous fear has to do with valuing others opinion of us more than God, or not understanding that everything that happens to us is under the umbrella of God’s perfect love. The bible never contradicts itself, but everything that is paradoxical usually has to do with our motives behind it. Unrighteous fear comes from believing lies of the enemy, righteous fear comes when we recognize we are believing the lie, renounce it, and replace it with God’s thuth from his Word.