"Fear of the Lord is the foundation of wisdom. Knowledge of the Holy One results in good judgement." Proverbs 9:10
Sometimes it's difficult to understand what is meant by "Fear of the Lord". Should we be terrified of the one who supposedly loves us with a love beyond all comprehension? Do we picture ourselves as the cowardly lion standing in front of the great and powerful wizard from "The Wizard of Oz?" Many times words have different meanings. In order to fully understand what is being said we must consult the dictionary to see if there are other meanings for the word. Fear, of course, means dread or alarm in facing danger but another definition is to have profound reverence and awe. The latter meaning seems to be more appropriate for this saying. We should have profound reverence and awe for our Lord and it makes sense that this would be the foundation of wisdom.
Once we put our Lord in the proper position, and I mean ahead of everything and everyone else in our lives, we gain a proper perspective for the rest of our problems in our life. God is bigger than ALL of our problems. God is capable of providing ALL of our needs. When you begin walking with God you will see things differently. Let me give you an example. A few years ago I was at a conference in Detroit. I was supposed to meet a friend of mine at this restaurant but I really didn't know where it was. It was dark, and I was not familiar with the city and not really sure how many blocks away this restaurant was. I began walking but got a little nervous as people showed up on the sidewalk around me. I began walking faster with my head down - acting as if I knew where I was going but I really didn't. I was getting nervous - OK - I was getting scared. I found the restaurant just fine and after the meal we started walking back. Now my friend is 6' 6" and weighs in around 260. I was not nearly as nervous heading back as I was when I was by myself.
That's how it is with God. God is bigger than anything. He's stronger than anything. He is the all-powerful and all-knowing God!! When you walk with God you have nothing to fear. As you walk with God you begin to trust Him more and more with each step. You begin to walk more by faith and less by what you see. If God says it's going to be fine - you know it's going to be fine. After all, He's the creator of the universe!! As you continue your faith walk with God, you start seeing things for what they really are. You start to wonder why you were ever afraid of these things in the past. You start feeling encouraged to start taking a few more risks - after all God's got your back! As you start being God's hands and feet in this world you'll start to see God in more and more things. You'll start to see his hand at work in many things. You'll become very wise because you'll be able to see through the "scary" stuff and see it for what it really is. You'll make better decisions which will result in good judgement and a better life.
You'll be on the road to righteousness!!
Yes, you may lose a lot of friends. You may encounter some very trying times as well. For me, my friends were not at all interested in hearing me talk about the amazing things God was doing in my life. God showed me that my "friends" were not very friendly at all. In fact, He showed me that my definition of friendship was not the same definition that my "friends" had. In order to continue walking with the Lord, I had stop walking with my "friends" because my "friends" were part of my problems. Being constantly surrounded by negativity and complaining is not a very encouraging environment to be in. Some people are just completely unable to see the good in anything. In order for you to continue on the right path you may need to disconnect yourself from your current environment in order to grow stronger. Do not forget about your friends all together, though. We'll come back for them when we are stronger, wiser and further down the path. For now just realize that we need to make a change.
Along the path, God introduced me to many new people with whom I've formed strong bonds. We are able to work together to serve the Lord and we have many great experiences that we share with others in order to provide encouragement. It's important to show people just what is possible when we put our trust and faith in the Lord. We are able to accomplish amazing things but it all starts with profound reverence and awe for the Lord.
The Shepherd
Return to The Proverbs Challenge
Sometimes it's difficult to understand what is meant by "Fear of the Lord". Should we be terrified of the one who supposedly loves us with a love beyond all comprehension? Do we picture ourselves as the cowardly lion standing in front of the great and powerful wizard from "The Wizard of Oz?" Many times words have different meanings. In order to fully understand what is being said we must consult the dictionary to see if there are other meanings for the word. Fear, of course, means dread or alarm in facing danger but another definition is to have profound reverence and awe. The latter meaning seems to be more appropriate for this saying. We should have profound reverence and awe for our Lord and it makes sense that this would be the foundation of wisdom.
Once we put our Lord in the proper position, and I mean ahead of everything and everyone else in our lives, we gain a proper perspective for the rest of our problems in our life. God is bigger than ALL of our problems. God is capable of providing ALL of our needs. When you begin walking with God you will see things differently. Let me give you an example. A few years ago I was at a conference in Detroit. I was supposed to meet a friend of mine at this restaurant but I really didn't know where it was. It was dark, and I was not familiar with the city and not really sure how many blocks away this restaurant was. I began walking but got a little nervous as people showed up on the sidewalk around me. I began walking faster with my head down - acting as if I knew where I was going but I really didn't. I was getting nervous - OK - I was getting scared. I found the restaurant just fine and after the meal we started walking back. Now my friend is 6' 6" and weighs in around 260. I was not nearly as nervous heading back as I was when I was by myself.
That's how it is with God. God is bigger than anything. He's stronger than anything. He is the all-powerful and all-knowing God!! When you walk with God you have nothing to fear. As you walk with God you begin to trust Him more and more with each step. You begin to walk more by faith and less by what you see. If God says it's going to be fine - you know it's going to be fine. After all, He's the creator of the universe!! As you continue your faith walk with God, you start seeing things for what they really are. You start to wonder why you were ever afraid of these things in the past. You start feeling encouraged to start taking a few more risks - after all God's got your back! As you start being God's hands and feet in this world you'll start to see God in more and more things. You'll start to see his hand at work in many things. You'll become very wise because you'll be able to see through the "scary" stuff and see it for what it really is. You'll make better decisions which will result in good judgement and a better life.
You'll be on the road to righteousness!!
Yes, you may lose a lot of friends. You may encounter some very trying times as well. For me, my friends were not at all interested in hearing me talk about the amazing things God was doing in my life. God showed me that my "friends" were not very friendly at all. In fact, He showed me that my definition of friendship was not the same definition that my "friends" had. In order to continue walking with the Lord, I had stop walking with my "friends" because my "friends" were part of my problems. Being constantly surrounded by negativity and complaining is not a very encouraging environment to be in. Some people are just completely unable to see the good in anything. In order for you to continue on the right path you may need to disconnect yourself from your current environment in order to grow stronger. Do not forget about your friends all together, though. We'll come back for them when we are stronger, wiser and further down the path. For now just realize that we need to make a change.
Along the path, God introduced me to many new people with whom I've formed strong bonds. We are able to work together to serve the Lord and we have many great experiences that we share with others in order to provide encouragement. It's important to show people just what is possible when we put our trust and faith in the Lord. We are able to accomplish amazing things but it all starts with profound reverence and awe for the Lord.
The Shepherd
Return to The Proverbs Challenge
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