Proverbs 9: 10
“ Fear of the Lord is the foundation of wisdom.
Knowledge of the Holy One results in good judgment.” (NLT)
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,
and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” (NASB and NIV)
I live on a street of townhomes, and right behind us, they created another street to build more townhomes. It was a process of over 5 years until those townhomes were completed. It’s been fascinating to watch the process of building a road in an area that used to be somewhat swampy at the far end. The first summer, they smoothed out a huge berm created behind our home from the dirt dug out of all the foundations on our street. Then the next summer, they added more dirt. I have no idea how many truckloads of dirt have been dumped to get the land evened out. It took two years to bring in the dirt and level it out. We had dump trucks rolling past our home all the time creating huge dust clouds. Then it had to sit for a year to settle, and then more dirt was brought in. Machines packed down the dirt for weeks before they started digging to lay the sewer pipes and other underground utilities. Then they had to pack it all down again before the curbs were put in and the road paved. Then they started digging a few foundations, and it appeared that they had to sit awhile before they put down the floor base and start putting up the frames.
After watching this long process, I’ve become much more aware of how important foundations are. You need even and well-packed land to build a house that won’t start to sink or crack. You need solid foundations that are set well before you put up the framing.
Proverbs tells us that the “fear of the Lord is the foundation of wisdom”, or other versions say it is “the beginning of wisdom”. If we don’t have a sure foundation, then what we build on it won’t last, or be solid. If we want to be wise, then we have to start with the “fear of the Lord”. This verse also stresses the importance of “knowledge of the Holy One”. So how do these two factors play out in our lives in a practical way?
We need to know God. We need to know His values, what He is like, how He works. The only way we can do that is by reading the Bible; that’s the only reliable way to know Him. In Romans, Paul tells us that creation helps us understand God a lot. “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.” (Romans 1: 20 NIV) But if you want to really get to know God personally, you need to read the Bible so you can see what He says and what He has done since the creation account in Genesis. Admiring our universe helps us realize there is a powerful Creator, but it doesn’t have that personal connection. By knowing God well through His Word, we can pattern our behaviour after His.
We also need to fear Him. For me, it means taking God seriously. Often we know the best thing to do in many life situations, but then ignore what is best since what we are actually doing is not all that bad. For example, my eating habits are not all that healthy. I know I should eat more fruits and vegetables, but I’m not sick, so I don’t change my diet. Or I know I should exercise more, but I’m busy and I’m getting around OK, so exercise gets pushed to the side. Or when I was a young mom, I knew date nights were important for my marriage, but it was expensive, and I had to find a babysitter, and it was easier to just stay at home.
Unfortunately, that’s often how I treat my relationship with God. I know I should read my Bible and that I should pray daily to develop a close relationship with Him, but life gets in the way so much. If I really took knowing God seriously, and that my relationship with Him is the BEGINNING or FOUNDATION for living wisely, then I would pay more attention to knowing Him.
So that’s how those verses struck me today. I need to take my faith in God seriously if I want to live wisely and make good judgement calls on all the things that crop up in life. For me, those verses are a wake-up call.
Our song for today is Jesus, Firm Foundation.