Proverbs 9:10 reads, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy one is insight (ESV)."
What is the fear that brings wisdom? It is not a fear of malevolence nor is it an emotional reaction. Rather, the fear that Proverbs 9:10 speaks of is a matter of reverence and right understanding. If we truly understand who God is, that He is Holy, righteous, and omnipresent/potent/prescient, we will be in utter awe at Him and wholly undone of any pride or self-exaltation. This is the key to wisdom: fear the Lord because we understand who He is. Also, recognizing the creator-creature distinction is paramount to wisdom. We are not being weighed against other creatures but are weighed against the perfect, holy Lord God Almighty. This is the sober realization of the reality of our lowly state.
When the prophet Isaiah was called to write the book that bears his name, he had a vision of God and upon seeing the Lord, he cried out, "Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts (Isaiah 6:5)." When we truly see the great gulf that separates the perfect holiness of God from the desolation of man, only then will we understand in terror the absolute power of God. This is the beginning.
In this assertion, there is no place for pride but only humility (Pro. 11:2). Before the awesome power and presence of God, every person is like a blade of grass that hears and sees the lawnmower coming its way. The understanding that comes with accepting the difference between man and God is the first step of wisdom. It is not merely a difference in degree, as in, God is simply the highest degree of every virtuous human characteristic. Instead, it is a difference in kind. God is not like us. We are like him. This is a simple statement with depth. This is the beginning of wisdom and the fear that begets it. Plus this is the insight that stems from knowing the Holy One.
Lastly, in Paul's letter to the Philippians, Paul tells believers to "continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure (Phil. 2:12-14)." When we understand the great gulf that exists between man and God (Luke 16:19-26; Isa. 59), plus that our righteousness is like a soiled rag compared to God's (Isa. 64:6-7), then truly will we fall prostrate before God and cry out for repentance and salvation. If we do not understand this distinction, we will naturally view our righteousness in a horizontal manner that compares ourselves to other creatures around us.
When we weigh ourselves horizontally, we feel we can stand before God proud and deserving of salvation because we can always point to someone worse than ourselves. The truth is, what we deserve is justice and wrath. Luckily, a vertical understanding reveals that through God's grace and Jesus' perfect atonement, we have been given undeserved salvation. The only way to be wise is to understand the awesomeness of God. The only plausible and reasonable reaction to the awesomeness of God is fear. Only then will we have be able to be wise in the truest sense of wisdom. And only when we pursue understanding the Holy One will we have any insight worth anything at all.
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