The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom - proverb, bible verse, meaning and sermon
Wisdom is inevitable in life. It is no wonder we are told that wisdom is the principal thing and so, everyone must get it. The scripture also gives us a clue on how to get this wisdom. It says that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. This goes to tell you that the foundation upon which wisdom rests is the fear of the Lord. Moreover, get this clear that the fear of the Lord is not a sign of weakness but a reverence of God. Until you grow in your level of fear or reverence for God, you cannot grow in His wisdom. This then means that if you can follow this scriptural principle of fearing God, you are only positioning yourself for the acquisition of wisdom. Here is all you need to know about the Bible verse that says, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom."
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No man goes far in life without wisdom. In fact, if you are not wise, you will end up serving the wise. That is because foolishness answers to wisdom. Your quest to acquire wisdom is the beginning of your rise to glory and relevance. Have you seen any man who ends up becoming the envy of his generation? The secret behind that is wisdom. If you will be all that God wants you to become in life, it then means that you have to go in search of wisdom. This is because fulfillment is never automatic. No. How wise you are determines how relevant and fulfilled you will be. If God could not do anything without wisdom, that should suggest to you and me that unless we get this wisdom, there is almost nothing that we will be able to do or accomplish in life.
You want to rise to the top? You need wisdom. You want to make more money? You need financial wisdom. You want your relationship to go to the next level? Wisdom is inevitable. You want to be successful in your career? You can not do without wisdom. Do you see that there is virtually nothing that you can do without wisdom? So, you can now begin to understand why the scripture says that wisdom is the principal thing. Every desire becomes a reality on the platform of wisdom. But then, as we have been considering, you need the fear of God to be able to ride on the wings of this wisdom. What does the fear of the Lord mean? You may want to ask. Let us take a step further by discussing this important requirement.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom meaning
There are two kinds of fear. According to Merriam-Webster dictionary, fear is defined as an unpleasant, often strong emotion caused by anticipation or awareness of danger. To break it down further, Collins Dictionary defines fear as a thought that something unpleasant might happen or might have happened. You see, in view of these two definitions, fear is seen as something bad. It is a negative feeling that we are not expected to carry at all. In fact, as believers, we are meant to deal with it totally so that it does not exist in our life. A reason for this because 1 John 4:18 (KJV) tells us that "There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love."
However, the other type of fear we are talking about is that which we have for God. As I have noted to you earlier, the fear of God is not a weakness; we are encouraged to imbibe this at all times because of the various benefits that it comes with. To understand God's fear better, see what Hebrews 12:28-29 says: [28] Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, [29] for our “God is a consuming fire”. From these verses of the Scripture, the "reverence and awe" mentioned here is what the fear of God means exactly for Christians.
You will discover that when you develop this reverence and awe for God, you will be motivated to submit and surrender all to Him. More so, these two things will become the basis for which you walk in God's ways, serve Him, love Him and even please Him at all times. Based on this understanding that when you fear God it does not mean that you are scared or afraid of Him, it only means that you revere Him in such a way that it impacts on how you live your life and conduct yourself all the time.
Therefore, when the scripture says that "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom", it means a reverence for God is the foundation for true wisdom. Just as a structure cannot be erected without first of all laying the foundation, nobody can become wise without first having the fear (a reverence and awe) of the Lord. When you fear the Lord, it means that you have the continual awareness that your heavenly Father is watching and evaluating everything that you are thinking, saying and doing. And guess what? This is what wisdom operates on. This is what "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom" means.
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The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom proverb
The book of Proverbs is known as the book of wisdom that has a treasure-base of the wisdom of the ancient. A beautiful thing about the book is that it teaches different issues of life like how to handle relationships with others, time management, and the acquisition of wisdom. In this book alone, you will also find different verses that talk about "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom". They are written out below:
- The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. (Proverbs 9:10)
- The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; Fools despise wisdom and instruction. (Proverbs 1:7)
- The fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom; and before honour is humility. (Proverbs 15:33 KJV)
Apart from the verses of the Bible listed above, there are many other passages in the Bible that talk about the fear of God being the beginning of wisdom. Let us look at a few of them below.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom Bible verses
- The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; A good understanding have all those who do His commandments; His praise endures forever. (Psalm 111:10)
- "And to man He said, 'Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; And to depart from evil is understanding.'" (Job 28:28)
Apart from the verses listed above, there are also a few other fear of the Lord verses that describe what the fear of the Lord is and the benefits that are in His fear. Consider the following verses:
- "The fear of the LORD is to hate evil; Pride and arrogance and the evil way And the perverted mouth, I hate." (Proverbs 8:13)
- The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; The judgments of the LORD are true; they are righteous altogether. (Psalm 19:9)
- Praise the LORD! How blessed is the man who fears the LORD, Who greatly delights in His commandments. (Psalm 112:1)
- The fear of the LORD prolongs life, But the years of the wicked will be shortened. (Proverbs 10:27)
- The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, That one may avoid the snares of death. (Proverbs 14:27)
- The fear of the LORD leads to life, So that one may sleep satisfied, untouched by evil. (Proverbs 19:23)
- Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven. (Mat 10:28-33)
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The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom sermon
The Lord is not a monster that you should dread. That the scripture mentions that you should fear the Lord does not mean you should be afraid of Him. No. God is your Father and He wants you to relate with Him as such. Based on the understanding that you have of your earthly father and how you relate with him, God wants you to do much more with Him. If He is not interested in relating with you, He would not have sent Jesus to die on the cross.
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When the scripture says fear the Lord, it is pointing you to the fact that you need to revere Him. Even though He is your Father and He wants you to talk to Him always about just any issue, He also wants you to do that with a reverence of Him. After all, He already said that those that honour Him, He will honour them as well. So, when you read about the fear of the Lord in the Bible, it is pointing you to the fact that you need to honour Him based on an understanding of who He is and what He wants.
Once you understand what the will of the Lord is and you faithfully carry them all out, then you become a person of wisdom. But what is wisdom? You may ask. According to the parable of Jesus in Matthew chapter seven and verses twenty-four to twenty-seven, he said specifically that anyone who hears his words and do them, they are likened to men of wisdom. So, you see that the knowledge of what God wants from you positions you to fear or revere Him while your readiness to do them all is what makes you a person of wisdom.
Consider this example to understand how the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. The Bible says that you must not commit adultery; this serves as His expectation from you. When you fear Him, you want to know what He wants from you which is, based on this example, that you should not commit adultery. Now, let us think about it, why would God say that you should not commit adultery? Logically speaking, you know when you commit adultery, you expose yourself to infections which may also affect your legal partner. More so, in the act, especially if the person you are committing it with also has a partner, if he or she catches you or finds out, that may lead to big trouble for you. So, when you fear God, you will not want to commit it and in the process, you will save yourself and your relationship.
The fear of the Lord must reflect in your daily living. It should not be present only when you go to church for worship. On a daily basis - at your workplace, in your neighbourhood, among your friends and colleagues, wherever you find yourself - God's fear must direct the way you think, act and your living generally. And as you begin to live by this fear of God, the wisdom of God begins to find a place in you. Apart from that, you will find out that nothing scares you any longer. That is because God's fear has dominated your being. You will enjoy absolute peace from all troubles as God becomes involved in the issues of your life.
Consider the following quotes about the fear of God. At least, you will learn some other things about the fear of the Lord.
Fear of God quotes
- True Christianity consists only in pure faith, love, and an holy life; which holiness of life springing up in the soul with faith and love, hath its beginning out of true contrition. And this contrition is never without a knowledge of one's self, whereby we perceive daily more and more our own defects, and amend them day by day. - Johann Arndt
- Without the fear of God it is impossible to say ‘No’ to temptations and evil. - Sunday Adelaja
- Without the true and real fear, and an absolute reverence for God, our daily living and act of worship with words, thoughts, actions and deeds shall only seem we are worshiping God. - Ernest Agyemang Yeboah
- While I value the good opinion of my fellow citizens as highly as anyone, I may be permitted to say that I am governed by higher considerations than either the favor or the fear of man. I am impelled to the course I have taken because I fear God. - Elijah Parish Lovejoy
- It is blasphemy to call tyrants and oppressors, God’s ministers. They are more properly the messengers of Satan to buffet us. No rulers are properly God’s ministers, but such as are just, ruling in the fear of God. - Jonathan Mayhew
- The remarkable thing about God is that when you fear God, you fear nothing else, whereas if you do not fear God, you fear everything else. - Oswald Chambers
- You are as much serving God in looking after your own children, & training them up in God’s fear, & minding the house, & making your household a church for God, as you would be if you had been called to lead an army to battle for the Lord of hosts. - Charles Spurgeon
- You are as much serving God in looking after your own children, & training them up in God’s fear, & minding the house, & making your household a church for God, as you would be if you had been called to lead an army to battle for the Lord of hosts. - Charles Spurgeon
From all that has been said so far, we have seen that the word of God is the wisdom-treasure that every one of us needs to live right. So, when the Bible says that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, it does not mean that we should see God as a being that we must dread but One that we must revere at all times. When we revere Him, we understand what His goodwill is for our lives and ensure that we do those things. It is in doing them faithfully that we are positioned to enjoy the wisdom of God.
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