The fear of the Lord - part 2

 Proverbs 1:7 says, 

“The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of knowledge;

Ignorant fools despise wisdom and discipline.” (LSB)


Let’s break this verse down (I’m using the BLB App and the dictionary as references.  You can also find this at www.blueletterbible.org).

“The fear” - fear of God, reverence, piety (the quality of being religious or reverent); respect; fear, terror, awesome or terrifying thing; revered

“of Yahweh” - Jehovah - the existing One; self-existent or eternal One; “I am Who I am”; the personal name of God

“is the beginning” - first, best, beginning, chief; the first in place, time, order or rank, first fruits; principal thing

“of knowledge” - knowledge, perception, skill, discernment, understanding, wisdom, cunning; in highest sense, knowledge of God (including obedience)

“Ignorant fools” - one who despises wisdom; of one who mocks when guilty; of one who is quarrelsome; of one who is licentious (promiscuous and unprincipled in sexual matters); perverse; silly; foolish

“despise” - to despise, hold in contempt, hold as insignificant, to disrespect

“wisdom” - wisdom; shrewdness (the quality of having or showing good powers of judgement); prudence; 

“and discipline” - discipline, correction; chastisement; instruction; rebuke; 


Sometimes it helps me to better understand a verse if I use the definitions to rephrase it into my own words.  Here is what I have for this verse:

“The reverence I need to show the Lord, who is self-existent and beyond anything I can truly understand yet who wants to have a relationship with me, because He is awesome and terrifying in His power and majesty is the principal thing for gaining knowledge of Him and knowledge of His ways and His creation.  Someone who is self-absorbed and thinks he knows everything will disrespect the wisdom gained from the Lord, and show poor judgement because he will not listen to the Lord and His instruction or pay attention when corrected.”


Remember that quote from the post about the fear of the Lord a few weeks ago?  “The person who fears God will fear nothing else.”  (This is from When People are Big and God is Small by Edward T. Welch.)  As we learn to fear the Lord, we gain wisdom, discernment, and understanding.  As we show Him the reverence, awe, and even simply the focus that He deserves, we begin to understand Him more, to know Him more, even if it is just a tiny bit.  But when we are focused on ourselves and doing things our own way, we become more and more foolish, which is one reason we fear man so much.  Something to think about, at least.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

I am not . . .

OK, it has been a while since I blogged, but today I am feeling a little inspired. I am struggling mightily, again. Guilt. All the mistakes of the past. All the mistakes of the present. Guilt. I was listening to some music this morning, trying to focus on praise, when a song came on talking about how much I was forgiven. And grace washed over me, again. I am forgiven. Right there in the laundry room, while folding to mountains of clothes, I said it, out loud - "Go away, Satan, and take your guilt with you! I am forgiven, and that is all there is to it!" Peace. Followed quickly by my usual need to find a friend of my childhood. I do some googling, again. Maybe success this time, maybe not. But why do I have this terrible need to keep looking to people of my past? What am I clinging to? What am I running from? This week is a restful break. Don't get me wrong, there is still work to do. But instead of having school, we are just going to do some cleaning and relax a little. Y
Read more

Crushed, but not broken

Anyone who really knows me (the few there are), knows that I love children's literature. One thing I love about really good, usually older, children's books is the parallels that God reveals about Himself to me through these timeless treasures. The more I study God's Word and commmune with His heart, the more I see these. Here is my most recent discovery: The Velveteen Rabbit, by Margery Williams is a great example. Hebrews 5:8 says "Although He was a son, He learned obedience through what He suffered." As I pondered this truth, and the truth that our own suffering is for our good and His glory, I was a little confused. Why do we have to suffer and what does that really mean? Then I read this book, and the Spirit spoke clarification to my heart. In this book, a young boy receives a stuffed rabbit for Christmas. The rabbit is beautiful and nice, however, not played with at first. Then, as the boy loves the rabbit, it becomes shabby and suffers because of its missha
Read more

Psalm 127

  127   (Biblical text in italics) This is a “wisdom psalm” written by King Solomon.   The ESV Study Bible gives a few helpful themes: “without the Lord’s blessing, human toil is worthless” and “diligence is neither greed nor restless anxiety.” 1 Unless Yahweh builds the house, They labor in vain who build it; Unless Yahweh watches the city, The watchman keeps awake in vain. When we try to do things ourselves, be it control things about our home or protect those we love, we end up failing.  We must trust the Lord to do all these things and be about the business of obediently following Him, no matter what He asks us to do.  We must work in faith, trusting God with the outcome of our labors. 2 It is in vain that you rise up early, That you sit out late, O you who eat the bread of painful labors; For in this manner, He gives sleep to His beloved. The Lord doesn’t want us to be focused strictly on busyness and “getting ahead” or even on protection of those around us.  He give
Read more