There are so many different thoughts in these chapters that it would be impossible to comment on them without leaving out an enormous portion of text. Having said that, I specifically want to look at the following verse:
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom,
and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.
-Proverbs 9:10 (ESV)
According to Solomon, the starting place of wisdom is fear of the Lord. That's great to say, but what does it actually mean? What does it mean to fear the Lord? I really appreciate CS Lewis' caricature of God in The Chronicles of Narnia. Lewis uses a lion to depict Christ. Can you imagine what you would feel like if you were standing in the presence of a massive lion? Certainly you would fear your life because you would know the strength of the great beast. At the same time there would also be a sense of awe at the majesty of the creature. I believe that a proper fear of God carries those same feelings.
When you realize who God is in all of His majesty, you must experience fear because you know that He has the power to wipe you from the earth at any moment – a power He typically does not use. At the same time, you would also experience a sense of awe for His glorious majesty. Fearing God realizes who you are in light of who God is, and it acts in reverence in response to that understanding. Would it be wise to neglect the reality of God? Absolutely not! Therefore, a person cannot have wisdom without fearing the Lord.
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