10 “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. – Proverbs 9:10 (NKJV)
Have you ever wondered, what the fear of the Lord refers to in this instance? I can give you the right answer right away, thanks to the BibleGateway search option; please type in “fear of the Lord” in quotation marks and it will give you 28 Bible results from the New King James Version. The closest answer is right here, in the previous chapter of the Proverbs:
13 The fear of the Lord is to hate evil; Pride and arrogance and the evil way And the perverse mouth I hate. – Proverbs 8:13 (NKJV)
The fear of the Lord is to hate evil. Actual hatred of evil. Actual hatred of pride and arrogance and the evil way. And actual hatred of the perverse mouth. We are to take these words seriously in order to get anywhere in this search for wisdom we as Christians are to undertake. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the fear of the Lord is to hate evil.
I think to hate something means not wanting to have anything to do with it. Not to humor it. Not trying to understand it.
7 Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. – James 4:7-9 (NKJV)
James Chapter 4 has some of the best promises in the whole of Bible. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. You can do it, my friend. If you’ve ever been ill, you know what it’s like, but it will get better. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. It’s that simple.
22 Abstain from every form of evil. – 1 Thessalonians 5:22 (NKJV)
Let’s abstain from every form of evil. Hey, that thing over there has evil in it, let’s abstain! Let’s get back to the basics. Let’s get serious.
God bless you, Dear Reader.
Bible Study 