Proverbs 1:7: The first step

“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.”
-Proverbs 1:7

I was trying to fix my computer recently, and I found some very helpful websites that explained what to do in exactly my situation. They told me to go the command prompt, to type this, to look at that, and to change this.

There was only one problem: I didn’t know how to get to the command prompt.

I’m quite sure the websites were right in what they were telling me, but I had no way to find out, since I was lost on step one. I had to go elsewhere to figure out how to do that one step, and only then could I go back and try again.

Sometimes I think the church is like this. I’ve heard so many sermons about how we need to stop sinning, and cut out that behavior, and we need to act like that. And I think so many people in the pews are thinking (though they may not admit it aloud), “I agree, but HOW?”

Where do we start? Are we to grit our teeth and stop sinning by sheer will power? Are we to suddenly turn away from the life we have always known and suddenly be perfect by setting out minds on it? Are we to suddenly know everything perfectly and be able to walk in the paths of righteousness? How does this happen?

Solomon gives us the first step in his first proverb of the book. Fear the Lord, and then we begin to understand.

What is this word fear? Are we supposed to cower away from God? Fear comes from a Hebrew word that is more of a respectful awe. In sort of the same way a child might fear his parents. The child probably doesn’t cower away (we would hope not!) unless he does something wrong, and he understands that his parents have great power, and you should not forget it. His parents care for him, love him, provide for him, but can also punish if not obeyed.

This is sort of the same concept here. When we fear the Lord, we are obedient to Him. We respect Him for His goodness and power. At times we should truly fear Him, for He has authority over us far more than anyone in this world. Jesus summarizes it nicely:

“I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him!”
-Luke 12:4-5

So we are talking about all these things combined when we speak of how we should approach God. Yet we usually do not do these things. We will fear all sorts of things in this life, but we will not give God the respect He deserves. No wonder our world seems to come crashing down when we get dumped or fired or our electricity goes out! No wonder! We fear the wrong things, and as a result, we lack understanding, so we react badly to things that ultimately don’t matter very much.

Jesus came to earth guide us back to that right relationship with God. And you know what? We hate instruction and wisdom so much that we killed Him. But God is so great and so awful (I use the word in its proper meaning to be “full of awe,” which is exactly what God is), that He used this terrible crime against His Son and turned it into a saving act for us all. By the Blood of Jesus we can return to God, properly this time, upon our knees, surrendering all, repenting of all, and be restored to Him.

It all begins with the fear of the Lord. Repent of your old foolishness and come to Him, and this will be the beginning of understanding.