December 31, 2012
Fear of the Lord
I’ve been studying wisdom
literature in the Bible and the concept that wisdom begins with the fear of the
Lord, and that fear must be taught and passed down from one generation to the
next. Understanding this heritage in wisdom, I look back on my own genealogy
and see where some of my ancestors dropped the ball completely, while others only
taught their children to love the Lord. I’m not sure that any of them grasp the
responsibility they had in passing on the fear of the Lord to future generations.
“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of
knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.” (Proverbs 1:7 NIV)
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1 comment:
Gail;
-----I would hope wisdom has a continuance. If fear of the Lord is its beginning, then what might be its continuing? Proverbs 2:1-5 presents what should happen next. Logically, it is receiving God’s Word, something we might want to do if we really do fear Him. But this isn’t to just slip His Word into our mental library. It must be valued greatly. Like any treasure, it must be protected, honored, and used with care. Then we must focus our attention and inclinations and pleas and demands and searching and struggling upon recognizing and gathering wisdom, understanding, and insight. We don’t seek treasure passively. We explore. We probe. We mix, match, and compare what we find until we are sure of its truth. Then we add it to treasures we already have had. I never considered seeking silver to be easy. If you are the first to find it, then it will have been found by pick, shovel, sweat, and tears. Otherwise it will have been earned through employment, sweat, and tears. Either way, active, hard, exploratory effort is what acquires hidden treasures, wisdom, insight, and understanding.
-----But too many folks consider the fear of the Lord as their soup bowl into which will be poured wisdom. Then they incline their ears to celebrities and their hearts to the implications of all varieties of arts and entertainment. They give their minds to the opinions of friends and family. So all this comes to them easily and while they are on the fly. They make very little search for actual wisdom, so there is very little scrutiny, examination, or comparison of what they've found. Their efforts, sweat, and tears are really focused on getting physical silver and comfort and pleasure and security. So it is little wonder why they fail to teach their children about the fear of the Lord. Their fear of the Lord has presented to them an empty bowl rather than a pick, shovel, and a claim to a silver mine.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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