Many will say that you can find the answer to all questions in the Bible. My response to that statement is … usually.
One might ask, “Who should I marry?” But the question they should perhaps ask first is, “should I marry at all?” A primary cause for many divorces today comes from people that marry but should have remained single.
“Should I take this job offer or stay with the one I now have?”
“Should we purchase a house or continue to rent?”
Many times if we are truly walking with God, we may be fearful that we will make the wrong decision, displease God and then He might punish us. Often, what we really want instead of a bible is a computer that will answer all our questions so we won’t have to stress over what we should do.
It would be wonderful if we could have both confidence and comfort in our decisions knowing that we are always in the will of God.
The greater portion of the book of Proverbs was written by King Solomon, the wisest mortal of all time. So, it would seem to be good to study Solomon’s writings and learn from him. Proverbs 1:1-7 reads,
The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel:
2 To know wisdom and instruction, To perceive the words of understanding, 3 To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, judgment, and equity; 4 To give prudence to the simple, To the young man knowledge and discretion— 5 A wise man will hear and increase learning, And a man of understanding will attain wise counsel, 6 To understand a proverb and an enigma, The words of the wise and their riddles. 7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, “But fools” despise wisdom and instruction.
What should the “fear of the Lord” look like?
My grandfather was definitely not God. Like the rest of us, he had many flaws. But he was one that I respected more than any other. One of my greatest fears as a child and teenager was that I would do something that would displease him. It wasn’t the punishment that I feared, but rather the look of disappointment on his face.
Thinking of this over the years, I believe that we should feel the same way about God. I respected my grandfather because of his integrity. I had learned by watching him, and he had earned my respect. Hopefully, God has earned our respect. Christ chose to die for each of us so that we would reverence and respect Him. We should “fear the Lord” in this way.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Proverbs 1:7
Wisdom is the fruit of a right relationship with God. To fully grasp this, we will need to take a trip back in time to the Garden of Eden. There (before sin entered in) we see three things:
Man in complete harmony with God
Man in complete harmony with creation
Man in complete harmony with his mate
Then came the fall, sin entered into the Garden and lasting harmony was no more. The harmonious relationship that man had with God had been broken. This led to the harmonious relationship that man had with creation being broken. Then, of course, mankind’s harmony with his mate and all subsequent humanity as well.
Now once again, Prov. 1:7 says, The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, and the second part of that verse reads, “But fools” despise wisdom and instruction. The “fools” mentioned here are those that do not have the fear of the Lord.
So in our own lives, is this easy to get right? Of course not, but this should be our goal and it really isn’t that complicated. Like everything else, it all begins with a choice. We should choose to fear the Lord and trust Him to enable us to follow through with all the rest.
The express purpose of my insignificance is to reveal God’s magnificence.
My every flaw, showcases His excellence.
Wayne Hudson