Thursday, September 7, 2017

Thursday, September 7th: Proverbs 1-2; 1 Corinthians 16 ~ Tammy

Today's passage from the Bible In a Year Reading Plan is Proverbs 1-2; 1 Corinthians 16

Proverbs 1:7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and discipline.

Proverbs 2: 1-5 My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, listening closely to wisdom and directing your heart to understanding; furthermore, if you call out to insight
and lift your voice to understanding, if you seek it like silver and search for it like hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and discover the knowledge of God.

Fear can mean terror, respect, and awe.  Fearing God is a combination of all of these.  And we only fear Him when we recognize Him for who He is and understand why we should fear Him.

He is all powerful.  He is sovereign.  He is perfect.  He abhors sin.

And He knows every single thing we think, say, or do.

Yes, we should fear Him.  We should worship Him, and praise Him for His mercy to us.

As this site says (emphasis mine)....

When the reality of God’s true nature has caused us to fall down in worship, we are then in the right position to gain wisdom. Wisdom is merely seeing life from God’s perspective and responding accordingly. Wisdom is a priority, and we are told to seek it above all else (Proverbs 3:13; 16:16). Proverbs is known as the wisdom book, and the entire second chapter gives a detailed explanation of the value of gaining wisdom.

Until our hearts are in a right relationship with God, we are unable to have the “wisdom that comes from heaven” (James 3:17). Without the fear of the Lord, we may gain knowledge of earthly things and make some practical choices for this life, but we are missing the one ingredient that defines a wise person (Psalm 14:1; Exodus 20:3; 34:14; Jeremiah 25:6; Matthew 22:37). In the parable of the rich farmer, the rich man had a “wise” and practical plan for his profits, but God said to him, “You fool!” because the farmer’s plans were made with no thought of God and eternity (Luke 12:16–21).

Without the fear of the Lord, we make final decisions based on our faulty human understanding (Proverbs 3:5–6). When we incorporate the fear of the Lord into every moment of our lives, we make decisions based upon His approval. We live with the knowledge that the Creator of the universe is intimately involved in our every move. He sees, knows, and evaluates all our choices, and we will answer to Him (Psalm 139:1–4).

Our respect for God’s majesty causes us to honor Him (Psalm 29:2). Our gratitude for His mercy causes us to serve Him well (Psalm 2:11; 107:15). And the understanding that our God of love is also a God of wrath inspires enough fear to help us stay away from evil (Romans 1:18; Proverbs 8:13). Sin is foolish; righteousness is wise. When we live righteously, we are on the path to wisdom, and everyone in our lives benefits (Proverbs 13:20; 19:8).

Tomorrow's Bible In a Year PassageProverbs 3-5; 2 Corinthians 1

1 comment:

Nathan said...

It's important to incorporate the fear of the Lord into our everyday decisions. Making Him first in everything.