The Fear of the Lord

Proverbs 9:10

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, 

and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

As I was walking today, I started meditating on this verse.  God brought a couple of things to mind.  First of all, I considered the fear of the Lord.  What does that mean?  Does it mean fear in the sense of being afraid?  Like Dorothy, the Scarecrow, Lion and Tin Man felt in the presence of the Great and Powerful Oz?

  I don’t think so.

Even if they had a sense of awe, it was motivated by the fear of what he might do to them.  The fear of the Lord, I think, is recognizing the Lord’s rule over all creation, His control in our lives, His wrath and holiness, but also His Preeminence, His Transcendence, His Agape Love, His ability to redeem us through sacrificing His own Son.  His heart is as big as His power.  And when we begin to grasp that, (which is really difficult to do, don’t you think?) (It’s too big for my finite mind to comprehend!) then we can see ourselves in light of who He is, under His sovereign rule, at His mercy, desperately needing His grace.

As I write these words, I realize these are words that I have heard preached again and again.  The difference is that I am, personally, meditating on this.  The Holy Spirit is applying this to my life!  It’s not just more information, it’s pondering how it affects me and my view of God.

Then I thought about the next phrase, the beginning of wisdom.  It doesn't just say wisdom, it’s the beginning.  Our view of God is the very foundation of how we apply knowledge to our lives.  Without this foundation, we think too much of ourselves or too little of ourselves and make decisions that are self centered, lacking in wisdom.  The fear of the Lord must be our grounding, the bedrock on which we build our lives.  When we are reading His word, praying to Him, ministering for Him, we must always come back to the fear of the Lord.  It requires seeking Him and asking Him to reveal Himself to us.

The knowledge of the Holy One.  

Knowing the Holy One.  

The Holy One. 

  What makes God Holy?  What is Holy?  He is set apart from us, outside of creation, outside of time.  He is pure, altogether righteous, Holy.  He doesn’t make mistakes.   He doesn’t say anything that can’t stand for eternity.   He is never changing.  This is who our God is.  The knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.  We have to know our God in order to understand the truth about life, ourselves, others, circumstances; 

good and evil.

So that brings me back to the whole verse.  Our starting point must be fearing and knowing God for who He is, revealed in His word, being taught by His Holy Spirit.  We don’t start by having a religious system to follow such as reading the Bible, praying every day, going to church on Sunday, giving up things of the world.  If we are doing those things just for the sake of doing those things, we can only be motivated by pride and self righteousness.  No!  We must be motivated by our personal, active, growing relationship to the King of Kings and Savior of our souls. 

This challenges me and encourages me.  It challenges me by reminding me that I must never stray from pursuing God, walking with Him, inviting Him into every part of my life.  It encourages me because as I am pursuing God, He is imparting wisdom and understanding to me.  That’s a comfort because I am always second guessing myself, worrying that I am way out there in my thinking.  But when God teaches me something from His word, I can rely on His wisdom.

The last thing I considered as I rounded the corner close to home was when I am fearing the Lord and gaining knowledge of the Holy One, my desire to know Him increases and the more He reveals Himself to me.  Then, those disciplines of reading the Bible and praying, etc. are not just checking something off a list that makes me acceptable to God, but they are a means to run after the Giver of life, taking in His love continuously… and that transforms my life!