It’s entirely possible to sit in a church building every Sunday of one’s life and still not believe some of the central tenets of the Biblical faith. I firmly believe that many who claim the name of Christ don’t actually agree with one of the Bible’s most foundational verses:
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, But fools despise wisdom and instruction.” – Proverbs 1:7 (NKJV).
Or, similarly, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding” (Prov. 9:10).
Why do I say that many Christians don’t believe the Bible when it states this truth?
Because these verses don’t say fear of the Lord is a good idea, or important. They don’t say the fear of the Lord is the beginning of a healthy religious life. They say it’s the beginning of knowledge and wisdom, the foundation upon which they stand.
Truly believing this concept would require us to rebuild our understanding of every aspect of life upon God’s Word.
It’s all too easy to not do this, though.
Without even meaning to do so, we often assume the ways of the world are just fine and never stop to ask if God might have something to say on a matter. We are woefully unaware of how much we have been discipled by the TV, social media, school, our peers, the news, and countless other sources that shape our worldview.
We might even give a Scripture or two to explain why the way we’ve been taught to understand an issue is justified, but that’s not the same thing as building an understanding of the issue from the ground up on the foundation of a fear of the Lord.
We let the world set the stage for us on all kinds discussions – mental health, gender and sexuality, race, finances, children, even religion. Sometimes you’ll even hear people argue that the church has been behind the world on some such matter, and that we would do well to get on board with what the world is pushing.
But any ideology that does not factor in a fear of the Lord from the start will eventually begin to crack. We are increasingly seeing just how dangerous science can be without the fear of the Lord. Hollywood shows us every day what entertainment without the fear of the Lord looks like. We have no shortage of examples of how corrupt and harmful business without the fear of the Lord is. When relationships lack the fear of the Lord, they harm both parties. Attempting to work out sex and gender without a fear of the Lord has been an absolute disaster.
Over and over we see the truth of the proverbs, that anything presented as wisdom is no good if it does not start with the fear of the Lord. God is not to be compartmentalized to Sunday mornings, devo time, or the religious segments of our life in general. He is King over all of these things, and the more we submit to that fact that wiser and more knowledgable we’ll be.
The solution is simple, but it takes dedication: be in the habit of questioning what you do, and then look for answers in the Word. If God has spoken on an issue, run everything else you learn about it through your knowledge of what He says. To do anything else would be to reject wisdom’s very foundation.
We may never be completely free of our cultural programming in this life, but we can get a lot closer by submitting our lives to God and praying that He would show us the understandings we have that are contrary to His ways. He sees the heart, and He knows which hearts fear Him and want to please Him, and which ones don’t. Believe Him when He says wisdom starts with the fear of the Lord.
