“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge;
fools despise wisdom and instruction”
“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom,
and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.”
Are you teachable? In other words, do you have the ability to say you don’t know it all? If you said yes to these first two diagnostic questions, here’s a third: have your actions caught up to your words?
My four year old daughter, Mary Emmaline, is at a stage in her life (emotionally, physically, and even spiritually) where she can say yes to the first two questions. The third reveals some of her difficulty. For instance, in our tri-level house the top floor is always the warmest. That happens to be where all our children sleep. In the spring, the “in between” weather creates a stuffiness on the top floor because the air isn’t always running like in the summer (famously hot). Every single night—Every. Single. Night.—Mary Emmaline puts on the warmest, fuzziest, below-zero tested jammies she can find. And every single night we tell her to take them off because she’ll get too hot. It is an excellent example of actions not catching up to words. She says she wants to learn, and I believe it. She will admit she doesn’t know everything (sometimes at least), and I believe it. But her actions show her desires getting the better of her, and the same is true for us.
Proverbs tells the follower of God that a true and right fear of him allows for a better path—one of knowledge, wisdom, insight, healing, and refreshment. When your actions don’t match your words (when your desires get the better of you), can you describe yourself as knowledgeable, wise, insightful, healed, and refreshed? When we’re true to ourselves, the answer is no.
To fear God is to recognize his place and yours.
Recognizing one without the other is not enough. Both are required to truly fear God. When this reality dawns on us by God’s own working (Ephesians 2:1-10), we become truly teachable. When we become truly teachable, we embody a humility that Jesus showed revealed so plainly (Philippians 2:1-11). And when that Jesus-revealed humility is ours—and only then—is true knowledge, wisdom, insight, healing, and refreshment ours.
Will you keep on wearing fuzzy “below-zero” jammies in the Columbia, SC, summer? That’s what we look like when trust in ourselves with all of our heart and lean on our own understanding. God calls us to humble ourselves (to be truly teachable). And it begins with a right fear of the all-powerful and still-merciful God of the universe.
“Trust in the LORD with all your heart,
and do not lean on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make straight your paths.
Be not wise in your own eyes;
fear the LORD, and turn away from evil.
It will be healing to your flesh
and refreshment to your bones.”