Posted on 05/08/2021 10:55:04 PM PDT by Pilgrim's Progress
“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding” (Proverbs 9:10).
“The fear of the LORD is the instruction of wisdom; and before honour is humility” (Proverbs 15:33).
“The fear of the LORD is the instruction of wisdom,” and somewhere near the backbone of instruction and wisdom is the idea that the fear of the Lord is the first precept. It's the beginning of wisdom. It’s the first precept and everything ought to run around the idea that God loves me, and I love God, and all those things; but I fear God too because He’s a lot bigger than me.
He is eternal, He is omnipotent, and He is powerful and except for His grace, I don't have a nature like Him at all. I’m not like Him at all, and so He's kind to me; but for now, it's still a fearful thing. Yes, “Perfect love casteth out fear,” I don't doubt that he loves me perfectly; but I don't love him perfectly, yet. So, one day I'll be able to abide in the presence of the Lord without fear; but until then it's a good thing to maintain a healthy “fear of the Lord.” I’m scared of God. It’s a good thing.
“Stablish thy word unto thy servant, who is devoted to thy fear” (Psalms 119:38).
“. . . devoted to thy fear,” isn’t that something? Nobody in the Bible is ashamed of fearing God.
Verse 10, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.”
While “fear of God” means “We're afraid of anything godly or scriptural” to the atheist and hedonists, it is, when rightly understood, something to which we need to return. In the Bible, “fear of God” or “God-fearing” means to true Christians, that we should fear to disobey or grieve the Lord and be afraid to get out of His will. Truly, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom” (Psalm 111:10). Infidels are very foolish. They're just afraid this old Book might be true!
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Somewhere in that old book, the LORD calls them disobedient, they know the Word is true, but loved their sin more.
The Lord is my shepherd.
What might my Omnipotent Shepherd fear, other than the loss of his loved,
free willed sheep?
(I guess I’ve always had an odd way of looking at that scripture.)
Perhaps I don’t properly fear The Lord.
Rather, I fear becoming lost to Him, through my own willfulness.
~Easy
Before I was saved the I shall not want part had me confused.
I literally thought what good is a Lord you do not want.
As far as fear goes, the meaning also is to honor.
I also have something that I have been mulling over with the Lord.
When David finally came to his senses, after having Bathsheba's husband killed, he went in to the tabernacle and said LORD against you only have I sinned.
Then he placed his hand on the ark expecting to die. The LORD forgives David and then later claims him to be a man after his own heart.
I have yet to understand the " LORD against you only have I sinned" part.
Was it because Uriah was gone and David could not ask him to forgive what he had done?
Yes.
“I gave your master’s house to you, and your master’s wives into your arms. I gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more.” (2 Sam 12:8)
from the context, it appears that the Lord was saying, “If you had asked, I would have given you another wife. You didn’t have to kill a man to get one.”
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