Wisdom and Fear of the Lord
Wisdom and Fear of the Lord
Why would you even want to try to get wisdom? What is the worth and importance of wisdom?
Check out last week’s post to find out.
Last week I talked about the importance of wisdom and why you would want to seek it out.
So where do you start? At the beginning of course! And the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord.
The fear of the LORD [is] the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do [his commandments]: his praise endureth for ever. (Psa 111:10 KJV)
It seems to me if the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, we can’t obtain wisdom without first obtaining or learning what the fear of the Lord is. Logically, then, we need to know what the fear of the Lord is more than simply “the beginning of wisdom”.
The source of wisdom and fear of the Lord
We must look to the source of these to find out what they are.
Only the LORD give thee wisdom and understanding, and give thee charge concerning Israel, that thou mayest keep the law of the LORD thy God. (1Ch 22:12 KJV)
For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth [cometh] knowledge and understanding. (Pr 2:6 KJV)
If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all [men] liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. (Jam 1:5 KJV)
Come, ye children, hearken unto me: I will teach you the fear of the Lord. (Ps 34:11 KJV)
According to these scriptures God is the only source of true wisdom and fear of the Lord. He invites you to ask Him for it so that is one thing we can do, ask Him for those. Also we need to look to Him only and nowhere else for wisdom and the fear of the Lord.
What is the fear of the Lord?
Since fear of the Lord is the place to start to get wisdom we must first understand what that is.
The fear of the Lord is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate. (Pr 8:13 KJV)
How to understand the fear of the Lord
The main way to understand the fear of the Lord (other than asking for it) is found in Proverbs 2.
My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee; [2] So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, [and] apply thine heart to understanding; [3] Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, [and] liftest up thy voice for understanding; [4] If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as [for] hid treasures; [5] Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God. (Pr 2:1-5 KJV)
Incline thine ear, apply thine heart, criest after, liftest up thy voice, seekest, searchest—-all these are very active verbs. We must do these in order to really understand the fear of the Lord. All of these words imply earnestness and diligence. No labor is to be spared in our search for wisdom. Only when we are that earnest and that diligent will we find the fear of the Lord and therefore also wisdom.
It is worth the effort—more benefits of obtaining wisdom
Since the fear of the Lord is part of wisdom then all the benefits mentioned in scripture for obtaining the fear of the Lord also apply to obtaining wisdom.
…there is no want [lack] to them that fear Him. (Ps 34:9 KJV)
The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him, and delivereth them. (Ps 34:7 KJV)
The fear of the Lord prolongeth days...(Pr 10:27 KJV)
Here we have just a sampling of the benefits of fearing the Lord (and of obtaining wisdom)—we will not have any lack, the angels will encamp around us and deliver us and our lives will be prolonged. So you can see, that it is worth the effort required to obtain this precious thing—God’s wisdom (starting with the fear of the Lord)!!
Are you ready to start seeking the Lord for His wisdom and fear of the Lord? Let me know in the comment section below.
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