Proverbs 14:2
"2 He who walks in his uprightness fears the LORD, But [he who is] perverse in his ways despises Him. "
Notice the first part of this verse says that if someone walks in their uprightness, they fear the Lord. It is not just uprightness, but it is the uprightness that the Lord has put on the inside of them and the uprightness that He has taught them. God is so great that He gives them credit for it as if they created it. He says here that if they walk in their uprightness, it is a sign that they fear the Lord. Another way to express it would be is that if someone walks in their uprightness, they obey the Lord. To fear and to obey the Lord go hand in hand because obedience is a result of reverent fear.
In general if you were to ask someone if they despise the Lord they would say no. Even those who don’t follow Him would usually not go so far as to say that they despise Him. However, God’s ways are not our ways -they are higher than our ways. So we see here that the “higher” way is that perverting your way is despising the Lord. To pervert your way is to deviate but it never begins with a full walking away as such. Usually perversion sneaks in little by little like trickling water. It is the "writing a permission slip" for yourself in your mind for just a little thing that eventually creates a chasm between yourself and the will of God. This is despising God. Your heart becomes harder and harder. Your attitude will first reason against God and then it will turn to disregard that is blatant if not hostile toward His direction. At last, there will be eminent hatred. You will become offended at anyone who speaks the will of God for you because you will take it as controlling and religious- this is what it is to despise God.
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