Been so much going on lately, I love it and I hate it.
Off the top of my head:
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,
the goodness of God leads us to repentance.
The actual verses:
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.
Proverbs 9:10
(Of course, there are other places this is mentioned: Psalm 111:10, Proverbs 1:7, and Proverbs 4:7)
For the second line, I’m including context in the source:
Do you suppose, O man—you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself—that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.
Romans 2:3-5
The ESV points to Isaiah 30:18, 2 Peter 3:9, 15, and Revelation 2:21 to ‘support’ the highlighted line, and the first thing that comes to mind as I go through these verses – God is good in that He is patient for all of us to come to repentance.
Considerations notwithstanding, we ought to consider the possible revelations these two lines, these two verses bring to light: that the fear of the Lord goes hand in hand with understanding the goodness of God, and the beginning of wisdom also comes hand in hand with repentance.
We’ve more or less come to the agreement that the fear of the Lord, as mentioned here, does not necessarily imply terror, or being scared of the Lord – that is, unless we give ourselves the time and space to meditate on the sheer glory of our God, the infinite power of our Creator. The word for fear in the Hebrew is as follows: ‘יִרְאָה / yir’âh / yir-aw’ / Feminine of H3373; fear (also used as infinitive); morally reverence: – X dreadful, X exceedingly, fear (-fulness).’
So okay, there’s dread, but I imagine this dread as an ant dreading the seemingly unfathomable size and power of the shoe (and the man) hovering over it. In this point of view, the dread is more of awe, and not terror; the dread is more of awe, in line with reverence, as mentioned in the definition. The fear of the Lord, in this regard, is recognizing who we are, and recognizing who God is. Creation recognizing its Creator.
I chose Proverbs 9:10 in particular, for the line that followed: ‘the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.’ – And of course at this point in time I’m saying that you couldn’t know the Holy One without knowing His Son – No less than Jesus Christ, who was not only a representation of God’s dreadful glory and terrible power, but, more importantly, His everlasting love.
It is through Christ that we understand that when you talk about God’s glory and greatness, you automatically talk about His love, and when you talk about God’s love, you automatically talk about His glory and greatness. They come hand in hand, in Christ.
With that said, you cannot separate the fear of the Lord from recognizing, and consequently being in sheer awe of His goodness. This also comes hand in hand, in Christ.
Now I also want to say… Or, I dare to say – The fear of the Lord does not merely being us to the beginning of wisdom, but it also leads us to repentance… Just as our realization of God’s kindness and goodness leads us to the beginning of wisdom, much as it brings us to repentance. And before anything else I’m clarifying that the word ‘repentance’ is not beating yourself up religiously, more than I think it’s a change of mind – or, to be more precise, a realization of who we are in the context of who God is, and who God is in the context of who we are; Also, by realizing who God is, we realize who we are, and vice versa.
Did you catch something? I’ll just say it – ‘the knowledge of the Holy One is (certainly) insight’ insofar that we also attain knowledge of who WE are.
And we’re bound to make all sorts of misinterpretations here… but again: of course at this point in time I’m saying that you couldn’t know the Holy One without knowing His Son – No less than Jesus Christ, who was not only a representation of God’s dreadful glory and terrible power, but, more importantly, His everlasting love.
It is through Christ that we understand that when you come to the beginning of wisdom, you automatically are led to repentance, and when you come to repentance, you are brought to the beginning of wisdom… This also comes hand in hand, in Christ.
It just gives me some peace of mind that I could simply go back to our Savior, knowing that through Him God is revered and glorified, just as through Him we are brought to peace and power. It’s all because of Christ.
In all that’s happening in us and around us, we have no better Foundation than Christ Himself, our Rock of Salvation. We have no better Nourishment than Christ Himself, our Bread of Life. Through all the accidents, annoyances, accolades, and other a-words, I say this, something I’ll continue to say for this year in particular:
Some trust in chariots, others in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord. We trust in no less than Christ Himself;
Through Him we are brought to a healthy fear of the Lord. Through Him we see the goodness of God.
Through Him we are brought to the beginning of wisdom. Through Him we are led to repentance.
Praise God, from whom all blessings flow.
Praise Him, all creatures here below.
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host.
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost! Amen!
Until the next post, God bless you.
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