Fear of the Lord
Jenay
Proverbs 1:7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and discipline.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge;
People want knowledge. We want to know things; to know what to do and what has happened and what will happen. We always want to be in the “know” or in the loop or conversation. This knowledge that we want so bad begins with the fear of the Lord.
fools despise wisdom and discipline.
Nobody wants to be a fool. Wisdom and discipline are characteristics opposite of a fool. We are people that want knowledge, we do not want to be fools.
Wisdom and discipline are embraced by those with knowledge and those with knowledge begin with the fear of the Lord.
Let’s Go Back To The Beginning
Kyle
That is so good. I love that scripture.
I am immediately reminded of the Fall. In the beginning, God’s plan was to walk with us and share His wisdom as we enjoyed deeper and deeper relationship, but Satan’s first ploy was to tempt us with a shortcut to a fuller knowledge and wisdom apart from God. None of us wants to be a fool, but many of us are tempted to take shortcuts to understanding God and His wisdom.
Fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but we have always feared not knowing more than not having a relationship with our Father. In knowing Him we come to know all things in time, which requires faith, but we want our timing and not His, and our fear of not knowing is the beginning of our own destruction.
Secondly, I am reminded of 1 Corinthians 25: “For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.” In 21st century America, we judge wisdom by the intelligence standards of the world rather than by the standards of the One who created it. We fear the consequences of the world’s judgment of our intelligence rather than the Lord’s assessment of our foolish ways. In our limited capacity for intimate relationships, which leads to our utter fear of surrender, we substitute knowledge for wisdom and eternity for the immediate and fool ourselves into thinking we are in control. And this is why God must chastise and chasten us: to save us from ourselves and our pitiful tendency to believe the lies: that there is a shortcut to wisdom – to knowing God.
FOMO
Jenay
That is so true. In our current culture we are very familiar with FOMO – fear of missing out. Social media has made this so much more available. As AJ Swoboda pointed out when we got to hear him teach a few weeks ago, Satan is the originator of instigating FOMO, that original sin you talked about. His lies always make us feel like we are missing out on something. Usually his lies are offering something we already have in Jesus but He lies and plants fear by telling us we are missing out on knowing and having something better. Fear of missing out is really the opposite of fearing God and a shortcut that cuts out the truth.
Fear The Lord Is Tied to Truth
Kyle
Yes! I think it points to the idea of Truth.
John 18:37-38: “Then Pilate said to him, ‘So you are a king?’ Jesus answered, ‘You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.’ Pilate said to him, ‘What is truth?’”
Pilate asks Jesus: “What is truth?” It seems like a small detail to add in the crucifixion story, but it’s there because we must always ask ourselves that question. The Truth is not our own. We don’t get to create it individually day-by-day; instead, we are to fear the One who is Truth and move toward Him. That seems a strange idea, especially to non-believers. How and why would you move closer to someone you are afraid of? But fear of the Lord is a glorious kind of fear. How would you describe that to someone who hasn’t experienced it?
Are We Supposed To Be Afraid Of God
Jenay
I love that question. My eight year old just asked the same question when she heard me listening to a podcast about fearing God. Her question was why should we be afraid of God? Telling her we don’t need to be afraid, but I gave her an example of what the fear of the Lord means. Picturing us standing by a powerful river that is raging and beautiful, and sometimes peaceful. I said when you look at that beautiful river, what do you feel? Awe and fear. Feeling the power and seeing the beauty; knowing in an instant it can take you out if you don’t fear it. That is like God. He is beautiful and all powerful and we must stand in awe; never thinking we can control Him, contain him, or tame Him. He is to be feared.
Kyle
Yes! I was thinking of the ocean and of deadly sneaker waves. We stand in awe of the ocean’s beauty and power but we can get sidetracked, lazy, lose that fear and awe and wonder and begin taking it all for granted and turn our back to it. That’s when it’s dangerous – when we turn our backs and take our eyes off of it instead of keeping our attention on it (Him) and always being mindful of its (His) power.
Jenay
That’s it!! When we turn our back to Him or take our eyes off of Him, we are in danger. It’s interesting how the new and old testament call us to repentance, and that is just turning toward Him.
Friends And Bloggy Devotions
Check out my friend on the other side of this conversation. Kyle has a blog and we are writing these devotions together as we walk through these conversations together. https://kylemischelle.com/friday-morning-conversations/.
