At The Very Beginning
“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge;
fools despise wisdom and instruction.”
—Proverbs 1:7
In the musical, “The Sound of Music,” the song, “Do-Re-Mi” begins like this,
Let's start at the very beginning
A very good place to start
When you read you begin with A-B-C
When you sing you begin with do-re-mi
Understanding words begins with understanding letters. When we start at the beginning of music, we begin with notes. When we start at the beginning of knowledge, we begin with fear? Yes, fear. And not just any fear—fear of the LORD. How is the fear of the LORD the beginning of knowledge? Because once we understand who God is and what we are in comparison to Him, a reverent fear will automatically grow and bring forth knowledge, which teaches us who we are and how we are to live.
Imagine for a moment trying to climb Mt. Everest. Where do you begin? What do you need to understand first? First of all, you need to understand that Mt. Everest is bigger than you are. And not only that, you need to understand how others have tried to climb it. Two hundred have died trying to climb it; therefore, you need to find out why. What went wrong? What could have been done differently? All of your questions revolve around one thing: fear—fear of the mountain. You need to have a fear of the mountain before you even begin to climb it.
The same is true with God. We must gain a healthy fear of God before we can know how to approach Him and approach life. Once we begin to understand who God is, His power and His immensity, along with His omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence, wrath, and love, we have the beginning of knowledge—true knowledge—not mere facts, but the knowledge that acts as the blueprints of building our lives.
May God enable each one of us to have a healthy fear of Himself that will lead to building healthy and godly lives, reflecting the reality of our relationship with Him. Amen.
fools despise wisdom and instruction.”
—Proverbs 1:7
In the musical, “The Sound of Music,” the song, “Do-Re-Mi” begins like this,
Let's start at the very beginning
A very good place to start
When you read you begin with A-B-C
When you sing you begin with do-re-mi
Understanding words begins with understanding letters. When we start at the beginning of music, we begin with notes. When we start at the beginning of knowledge, we begin with fear? Yes, fear. And not just any fear—fear of the LORD. How is the fear of the LORD the beginning of knowledge? Because once we understand who God is and what we are in comparison to Him, a reverent fear will automatically grow and bring forth knowledge, which teaches us who we are and how we are to live.
Imagine for a moment trying to climb Mt. Everest. Where do you begin? What do you need to understand first? First of all, you need to understand that Mt. Everest is bigger than you are. And not only that, you need to understand how others have tried to climb it. Two hundred have died trying to climb it; therefore, you need to find out why. What went wrong? What could have been done differently? All of your questions revolve around one thing: fear—fear of the mountain. You need to have a fear of the mountain before you even begin to climb it.
The same is true with God. We must gain a healthy fear of God before we can know how to approach Him and approach life. Once we begin to understand who God is, His power and His immensity, along with His omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence, wrath, and love, we have the beginning of knowledge—true knowledge—not mere facts, but the knowledge that acts as the blueprints of building our lives.
May God enable each one of us to have a healthy fear of Himself that will lead to building healthy and godly lives, reflecting the reality of our relationship with Him. Amen.
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