What does Proverbs 1:7 mean, The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction?
What is the meaning of Proverbs 1:7?
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction (Proverbs 1:7)
The majority of people are looking for knowledge and wisdom. But what is the beginning of knowledge according to the Bible? The Bible says that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.
Now you might ask yourself, what is the fear of the Lord?
Unfortunately, many people have a misconception of ‘the fear of the Lord’. They think that it means to be afraid of the Lord. They think that they have to do all kinds of things to keep the Lord satisfied, because if they don’t they will be struck by lightening. And so many people serve God out of fear in the sense of being afraid.
But that’s not the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. God is a loving God!
Of course the Lord chastens and corrects the saints through His Word. But God does it out of His love for His children and not to punish them (Read also: Whom the Lord loves He chastens and scourges).
What does the word ‘fear’ mean?
What does the word ‘fear’ actually mean? The word fear means to have morally reverence, that you are in awe of God. That’s the meaning of the word ‘fear’. So, if you want to get knowledge, then it starts by having a morally reverence for God.
You shall love the Lord God with all your heart, might and soul. Because you love Him, you shall listen to Him and trust Him and apply His words in your life.
You shall do His commandments. Not because you have to or because you are afraid that if you don’t that He will punish you, but because you want to.
God is the Creator of the heavens and the earth
When you acknowledge the Lord God as the almighty God, the Creator of the heavens, and the earth, and all host, then you shall have a morally reverence for Him. When you love Him, and get to know Him, you shall be in awe of Him.
You shall love Him, with all your heart, soul, and might, and therefore you shall obey Him and keep His commandment, because you want to please Him and not hurt Him.
When you fear the Lord, then you shall not adjust and change His commandments, and His words, to your carnal desires, lusts, needs, requirements etc., but you shall adjust your life to His Word
You shall do, what pleases Him instead of doing what pleases yourself. You shall not dare to change His words or remove anything from the Bible.
God’s Word is the truth and shall always be the truth. No matter if people change His words and commandments, due to their own will, needs or desires. Their actions will not change the truth.
Jesus feared His Father
When Jesus walked on the earth, He feared His Father. Jesus walked in submission to the Father, doing His will. Jesus didn’t do, what He wanted to do. No, Jesus laid down His life and did the will of His Father (Read also: What if God’s will is not your will?).
His Father had a plan for His life; a good plan. And Jesus fulfilled this plan for His life.
You should also fulfil God’s plan for your life. The only way to fulfil God’s plan for your life, is to submit yourself to Him and do His will. His will for your life, is first of all, that you obey Jesus His commandments. He wants you to stay obedient to His Word, and apply His Word in your daily life. So that, you will walk as a son of God.
Walk in His will instead of ours
When you become born again, and when His Holy Spirit dwells in you, then you shall walk in the fear of the Lord. You shall walk in morally reverence towards the Lord, and shall accomplish His will, on this earth.
But if you stay rebellious, and do not keep His commandments, and don’t walk according to His will, then you shall live like a fool.
When you don’t keep His commandments in your life, and live without His instructions, then it will be impossible to get knowledge, and to become wise.
When a person, who calls himself/herself a Christian, adjust the will of God; the commandments of God to his/her own needs (desires, lust of the flesh), or to worldly standards, then that person doesn’t differ much from a fool (a sinner). Because fools don’t want to submit themselves to God’s will.
The fool isn’t looking for godly wisdom, because for them it’s foolishness. They do not want to be instructed, and do not want to be told what to do, because they think they know it better (or they think they know it all). Therefore a fool walks in haughtiness; in pride.
Wisdom of God has nothing to do with an IQ.
Wisdom of God begins by a morally reverence to Him, by submitting yourself to Him, to His Word, to His will, and to walk in His commandments; walk after the Spirit.
