"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding" (Proverbs 9:10)
If you wish to start on a journey towards wisdom, begin that first step with the fear of the Lord. Read God's Word and spend time with Jesus to gain knowledge of the Holy One. It looks like this precipitates into beginning to have some inkling of understanding of our Heavenly Father.
Not that we could ever fully undersantd Him. His thoughts are not ours and are higher and bigger and deeper than ours could ever be (see Isaiah 55:8-9).
This is part of the awesomeness of our Almighty God, and of His Son Jesus Christ who is the Word and was there even before the world began and then in the beginning He was there.
In the book of James we are encouraged to ask for wisdom if we feel we lack it (see James 1:5 KJV). Couple this with fearing the Lord.
Fear and respect and reverence overcomes and supercedes a spirit of fear. People fear many things and are often superstitious about numbers like the number 4 or 13. They fear evil spirits, which believers in Jesus Christ are told to resist.
"Resist the devil and he will flee from you" (James 4:7).
We do not need to fear them because ...
"...God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind" (2 Timothy 1:7).
This is reassuring. Through the Holy Spirit's indwellin, our kGod is with us and has given us power, love and sound minds. What this could well mean is fear generateds an unsond mind. Trust in God, fear only God and you will have a sound mind - a mind at peace with Him, which He will freely give to the willing heart and mind.
What's more is that the Word - Jesus - is our everlasting Savior, the One who was "in the beginning," and who was with God and who was God. He is our everlasting pillar of strength and wisdom. Fear Him. There are benefits.
This Lord's Day as we believers gather together to meet our Savior, remember we can be at peace as we fear God because of Jesus' death, resurrection and ascension back to Heaven.
As we increase our knowledge of Him garnered by our fear and reverence of Him, we will discover greater godly wisdom and, like a treasured and perfect gift that only He can give, some understanding of this Holy One in our lives.
Through faith then, let us remember all Jesus has done for us through His sacrifice on the cross. Partake of the broken bread and drink of the cup of wine, together, in the fear of God.
Let us live and move in Him on our journey towards wisdom and understanding of Him with every breath we take.
Jesus, thank You for going to the cross for us. Now we can have salvation through You. We can fear You and begin to have some wisdom and knowledge of You and Your Father. May Your grace bring us home to You. Help to ever gain greater understanding of all You have done and still do in our lives. Your followers are forever grateful. May we never forget it. In Your name we give You our praise, as we eat of the bread and drink of the cup in remembrance of Your sacrifice for us. Amen.
~ERC March 2024~
Based on Proverbs 9:10; 2 Timothy 1:7 and John 1:1.
Sing, Our God will Go Before Us, along with Keith & Kristyn Getty, Matt Boswell and Matt Papa.
No comments:
Post a Comment