Proverbs Part 1

Over the next week or so I'm going to post some of my thoughts as I'm preparing 3 sermons on Proverbs. (They won't necessarily be in any particular order - just as they come)

Where does wisdom start?

With Dr Phil? Navel gazing, or graduating from the school of hard knocks?

Proverbs 1:7 tells us that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. But you will also notice in Ch 2:5 that the fear of the Lord is the goal of wisdom too.

The fear of the Lord?

In Exodus 20:20 the Israelites are faced with God in the cloud and lightning on top of the Mt. Understandably they are freaked out. But check what Moses tells them:

Moses said to the people, "Do not be afraid. God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning."

Don't be terrified of the Mt, this is God coming to you. Now that you are about to meet Him (i.e: you are about to recieve His words) you will be able to say no to sin if you fear Him. That is, if you respond to His word by faith in reverant awe.

We get the same picture in Mark 4 when the disciples are caught in the mother of all storms and fear that the waves will crush their boat into matchsticks. Jesus wakes up, instantly stops the storm (with a word) and now the disciples are afraid of Him. They ask, who is this man and what has he done?! How is this possible?! (I put it to you that you too would react in this way if you thought that God himself might be in your boat).

In order to unlock God's blueprint for life in his world, and to know how to live well in it, the starting point, the front door, is fear of the Lord. Responding to His word in faith with a healthy dose of reverant awe. (That's the bit that lets God be God and reminds you that you are not.)

This is the fence line within which we are able to graze freely in the pasture of wisdom.

More to come

Scott