Fear the Lord

Wisdom is not hiding; she is not hard to find.  She is calling your name from the busiest places in your day.

We open Proverbs 1 and trace how godly wisdom moves from ideas to action, turning belief into choices that protect your heart, serve your neighbor, and anchor your life with peace. This isn’t moral theory or abstract theology. It’s a practical roadmap; how to act with justice and equity, how to share what you’ve learned across generations, and how to resist the slow slide of small compromises that lead you where you never meant to go.

We unpack the reverent “fear of the Lord” as awe, not terror.  It is an honest recognition that God’s goodness and wisdom outpace ours.  And deserves our trust. That posture changes how we filter voices, choose mentors, and make decisions under pressure.

Along the way, we confront the allure of false wisdom, from peer pressure to the seductive logic of pride, and we expose why dismissing instruction carries a cost you that you will feel in your relationships, your work, and your inner life.

You’ll hear why Scripture describes wisdom as crying out in public.  Why the Bible remains a living source of guidance, and how simple acts of obedience bring calm and peace even when life hurts.

By the end, you’ll have a clearer vision for turning knowledge into love in action, listening well, saying "no" sooner, and passing what you’ve learned onto others so that they can walk a safer path.

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What’s one step of wisdom you’ll take today?


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Chapters

• 0:08 Welcome And Purpose
• 0:33 Reading Proverbs 1 (KJV)
• 1:52 Prayer For Understanding
• 2:31 Wisdom As God’s Design Manual
• 3:20 Acting On Wisdom And Justice
• 5:00 Sharing Wisdom Across Generations
• 5:40 Fear Of The Lord Explained
• 6:27 Rejecting Godly Wisdom And Its Costs
• 8:01 Heed Parents, Resist Enticement
• 8:51 Wisdom Is Public And Available
• 10:18 Consequences Of Loving Folly

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:08

Welcome to the Christ Quarter. Thank you for being here with me to take 15 minutes of this day to enjoy the presence of Christ and the words of Christ. Today we will read a section of Scripture and discuss what it means and how it applies to our lives. It is my hope that God will speak to you through these words and bring you closer to Him. I am blessed to have this opportunity to speak with you, and I thank you so much for being with me here today. Today's Scripture's lecture is Proverbs chapter 1, verses 1 through 4, 7, 8, 10, 20, 21, 22, 32, and 33. The King James Version reads as follows. To know wisdom and instruction, to perceive the words of understanding, to receive the instruction of wisdom, justice and judgment and equity, to give subtly to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion. They fear the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction. My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother. My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not. Wisdom crieth without, she utter her voice in the streets, she crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates, in the city she uttereth her words, saying, How long ye simple ones will ye love simplicity? And the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge. For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and their prosperity of fools shall destroy them. But whoso hearketh unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil. Let us pray. Lord, we thank you for this day. We thank you for the freedom and the ability to discuss your word and enjoy your presence. Help us to understand your word and your will for our daily lives more fully. We ask that you bless this discussion of your word, that it will speak to someone who needs to hear from you. We ask that you use these words to bring someone closer to you, and that you will touch their hearts to love others through action in your name. That each of us will do something to show love to their neighbor in action as well as in word. That each of us will do our best to represent you to the world. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. The verses for today are instructive. We have several statements of advice from King David designed to guide us along life's path in such a way that we will have the best life possible. The setting here, as I see it, is of a wise elder sharing wisdom earned from many years of life experiences. In any situation it is advisable to listen to those who have come before us and learn from them. They are like living cliff notes for your life. But in this instance, this advice is not simple human advice to be taken with a grain of salt. This is advice from God. The advice given here is to be taken in context, but it is like having our manufacturer's advice for best use and best experience. Here we have instructions from our maker, our molder, our heavenly Father. Let's get right to it. The first section of today's text, verses one through four, seven, eight, and ten reads The Proverbs of Solomon, the son of David, King of Israel, to know wisdom and instruction, to receive the words of understanding, to receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment and equity, to give subtly to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction. My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother. My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not. Let's look at this rapid fire group group of statements one by one. To know wisdom and instruction, to perceive the words of understanding. To know wisdom and instruction is not simply to understand the wisdom you have or have been given. It is not simply to know what you should do and what your instructions are. More than this, it is to take action and do what you know you should do. You must internalize this wisdom and act accordingly. The second one says, to receive the instruction of wisdom, justice and judgment and equity. Once you know what to do and have learned how to act in this knowledge and wisdom, you must further discipline yourself to act justly, with sound judgment, and with fairness towards your fellow man in mind. If you have wisdom and good instruction how to take care of and provide for your family, but care nothing about others, then you failed. This wisdom of God is not to be simply thought about and discussed, it is to be the foundation from which you live your life and help others. The next part says to give subtly to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion. In my opinion, here we are told that it is wise to give with prudence to those that have not progressed as far in life as we have. Just as we seek knowledge and wisdom from those who have more or different life experiences than we have, we should be willing to share our knowledge and wisdom with those who have fewer life experiences than we have, or with those who have not learned from their experiences and are repeating negative experiences that we in our own lives were able to stop. I believe that if we are open to sharing our experiences, knowledge and wisdom with others, God will send those people to us and we will be blessed that much more. The next portion says, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. This bit of advice trips up many people. They view this as meaning to be in fear of the Lord, as a child would be in fear of an abusive parent. This is especially problematic for those who have been traumatized by childhood abuse. Fortunately, this is not what is meant here. To fear the Lord is to have great respect for him, to acknowledge that he is above us in knowledge, ability, power, wisdom, goodness, love, etc. Knowing and trusting in the fact that the Lord God also cares about us and wants the best for us allows us to not only acknowledge his superiority, but to submit to his plans for us. Once we truly have this point of view, we will begin to want more and more of God's word. Then we will begin to grow in the knowledge of God, his will for us, how we should live our day-to-day lives. The next portion says, But fools despise wisdom and instruction. On the opposite side of this are the fools. Many people reject the idea that there is any greater being than we humans. They feel that the deep thoughts of a man are the highest thoughts in existence. They feel that everything around us, the systems of weather, the uncounted creatures on the planet, the tilts of our planet, our own beating hearts are all accidents or the outgrowth of ancient accidents. This further means that we have no meaning, no real goals, and that we are no better in origin than ants or bees. There is an old story some people use to explain how accidents seem like purpose. The story says that statistically, if one billion tornadoes spent one billion hours spending in one billion junkyards, one of those tornadoes will eventually throw the pieces of a 747 together in such a way that the plane will be working and ready to take off, needing only a crew and passengers. I see this as foolish. It is a necessary belief for certain fields of study. To see it as a statistical tool that we know is wrong, but it is the best we can do for now until we can learn more. No, that's one thing. But to present it as factual without any doubt is, in my opinion, foolishness. Foolishness that began with the dismissal of godly wisdom. The next portion says, My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother. This passage is more of an emphasis, in my opinion, to pay attention to what is being said here, and to also give proper attention to those in authority over you, such as a parent or a teacher, so that you can continue to grow and learn over time. And the last one says, My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not. On the opposite side of the wise parents and teachers are the sinners who will try to bring you into their world of destruction. One of their favorite tools is peer pressure. Another is incremental change. They will entice you to do something small, and then another, and then another, and so on. They will eventually take you further than you wanted to go, and will keep you longer than you wanted to stay. Avoid them. The second section of today's text, verses twenty and twenty one, reads Wisdom crieth without. She uttereth her voice in the street. She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates. In the city she uttereth her words, saying, Here God is showing us that wisdom is not hidden away, nor is it difficult to gain. Wisdom is readily available to us. This passage puts me in mind of flashing signs of begging for our attention. How willfully ignorant must we be to not see wisdom all around us? Even more so we have wisdom in the Word of God in our Bibles. Bibles are readily available all around us. Each one is crying out to the world to be picked up, so the reader can learn about the good news, the wisdom of God, and the way to salvation and eternal life. The last section of today's text, verses twenty two, thirty two, and thirty three, read How long ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? And scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge, for the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them. But whoso hearteth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil. How long will we destroy our own lives and the lives of those that are influenced by us? We have all seen those people who love the sound of their own voices. They aren't really making any sense, but they think that they are really at a higher level. While they are in the midst of their false wisdom and following their own bad advice, they think that they are being wise and attempt to bring other people into their mindset. One ultimate example of this are cult leaders. Cult leaders have destroyed many thousands of lives with foolishness. Some of you may remember the cultists that regularly gave parents Kool-Aid that may or may not have contained poison to give to their children. Eventually he gave them actual poison Kool-Aid, which they gave to their children, and all of them died. The opposite of this is, of course, the life that godly wisdom gives us all. Even if we are subject to pain, sickness, or intentional harm, we can keep our peace and be free from fear because we know that our future is sure in the Lord. That concludes our scripture discussion for today. Thank you for spending this time with me talking about, learning about, and enjoying Christ. It is my hope that God has used my words to touch you today and has brought you closer to Him. Let us pray. Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debt towards, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory. Amen.