The Beginning of Wisdom

                As I read the scriptures in Proverbs 9:8-12 quoted below, two words in these scriptures need to be [Webster’s 1828 Dictionary] defined as to their usage.  The first word is “fear” and the second word is “wisdom.”

Fear = “holy awe or reverence of God and his laws,”

Wisdom = “the knowledge and fear of God, and sincere and uniform obedience to his commands. This is the wisdom which is from above.”

When we can grasp the notion that through our “reverence [fear] of God,” we gain the “knowledge…of God,” we then have the knowledge that our “fear” is our worship and acknowledgement of the existence of God.  With this knowledge, we gain the “wisdom” that God wants us to have.

              God gives us “wisdom” to earn a living in this secular godless world.  However, this is not the “wisdom” of the “fear of the LORD.”

              How do we get to the “beginning of wisdom” that God wants us to have?  The very first step towards “wisdom” is gaining knowledge of Jesus, and knowing who He is, (knowing He is the Christ [God] and then using this “wisdom” to accept Jesus [through conviction of the Holy Spirit] as our personal Saviour.)  We are now in the possession of “the beginning of wisdom,” and we now contain the knowledge that “the knowledge of the Holy is understanding.”  We also now know that this “knowledge” allows us to have “The fear of the Lord…”

              Where within you do you dwell in this “fear” and “wisdom” of the Holy God?  Are you at the beginning of your “knowledge” of God and His Son, Jesus the Christ?  Are you now at a point in your “fear of the LORD” that you are growing in “wisdom?”  Are you striving to please God through your “fear of the LORD”?

Romans 10:17  So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

              Our “fear of the LORD” is what brings us to Church, which causes us to pray and read our Bible.  Do you reverence our LORD God and His Son Jesus, or do you “fear Them” in a secular worldly way?  The only way to remove the “secular” understanding is by being under the Word of God and hearing it.  Grow your faith in our God.  Have the fear [reverence] to honor Him with your presence in Church at all appointed times, and start walking as He commands you.                                                           

Bro. John R. E Chastain

Proverbs 9:8-12  Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee: rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee.  (9)  Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser: teach a just man, and he will increase in learning.  (10)  The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.  (11)  For by me thy days shall be multiplied, and the years of thy life shall be increased.  (12)  If thou be wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself: but if thou scornest, thou alone shalt bear it.