No one wants to be thought of as a fool. And yet…
So, how do we avoid living foolishly? Proverbs 9:10 says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.
Fearing the Lord is a good thing. Fearing the Lord keeps us safe in God’s love. This fear is not the kind that makes us cower from danger (see 1 John 4:18), but delight in God’s holiness while mindful that He disciplines His beloved children.
This is where I believe many of us fall short far too often. When we act as if we don’t believe God sees our sin, or doesn’t care about our sin, and that we won’t reap what we have sown, we are living without fear of the Lord. And the consequences of that should scare us because He hates sin. All of it.
There’s another aspect of fearing the Lord found in Nehemiah 1:11 which says, “O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant, and to the prayer of your servants who delight to fear your name.” When we embrace the awesome holiness of God and increasingly see the sin in our lives (all of it) as wretched as it really is, we understand that the safest and happiest place to be is close to our Heavenly Father. When we fear the Lord, we hate and forsake our sin so the intimacy of our relationship with the Lord is unhindered.
That brings joy to the heart of our Heavenly Father and is truly “the beginning of wisdom.” May the Lord richly bless you!
God bless you!
Pastor Bill Bertsche
Executive Pastor
