Scripture: Proverbs 1:1-7 NKJV
The Beginning of Knowledge
The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel:
To know wisdom and instruction,
To perceive the words of understanding,
To receive the instruction of wisdom,
Justice, judgment, and equity;
To give prudence to the simple,
To the young man knowledge and discretion—
A wise man will hear and increase learning,
And a man of understanding will attain wise counsel,
To understand a proverb and an enigma,
The words of the wise and their riddles.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge,
But fools despise wisdom and instruction.
Sermon – The Reverent Fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom – 20SEP2026
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” We say that all the time, but do we fear the Lord enough to really investigate what that means. Yes, we can wrap our heads around wanting wisdom, we all want that I hope, we all could thrive in wisdom, that’s not like knowing the future – with a magic 8 ball – but wisdom that comes from a pure source – from God… Yes, it is easy to realize whether we have wisdom or not, we should and probably we know we want it. WISDOM…
The fear though? I bet none of us fear enough. This is NOT SIMPLY to mean that we are to be ANXIOUS scared, fear of DOOM, but have a REVERENT fear of the Lord in realization that God is God and we are not. That’s a healthy fear, that’s the start of wisdom.
“Healthy fear” – which it is – is reverence and just a start – so can add that reverence in God gets us to change our ways. I have friends who are examples to me – an example that the Lord is “picking on us” – not in that way of Jaws, cue the music – dunnn – na, dunnn – na, dunnn – na…. but that the Lord is picking us out – picking us up… The Lord is a shark circling us for the kill? – no – the Lord is circling us to come in for the kill of the sin and death and of our worldly views – the Lord is circling us – FOR THE LIFE THAT HE WANTS US TO HAVE. This should bring us some wisdom – or at least appreciation of the Lord – He wants to bring us LIFE. God Knows Best – like Father Knows Best – yeah… Solomon would write: “My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, Nor detest His correction; 12 For whom the Lord loves He corrects, Just as a father, the son in whom he delights.”
My friend who is a pastor now, Pastor “N”, well he tells the story of his life – of how the Lord got a hold of him – how the Lord severely shook him up – Him then young – certainly never could envision him being a pastor, even though his mom was an awesome minister) – well N was a wayward youth – living what he thought was the good life – party party party – even came inebriated at least once (I think this is how the story goes that he recounted) to church as a young man – came in still inebriated from the night before and they were lighting the advent wreath and well – the fire… (don’t worry – all was OK – and taken care of) – but yeah he remembers the wayward ways of not having reverence for the Lord – not in His house – in spite of his family – just off the rails. Financially awful – eating cold cans of food without a decent home – yeah bad… Well, one day he was in the bar – quite inebriated and THEN SNAP – like a snap of fingers – He heard God talking to him and N became stone cold sober in a second – instant – miraculous – boom… Yeah God can do that – yeah – it taught him some fear – it taught him lots of reverence – and yeah – wisdom??? Yeah – wisdom is as the proverbs say: the beginning of wisdom is this: get wisdom!!! and the scriptures state to not stop there. KEEP LEARNING MORE WHAT THE LORD HAS INSTORE. Yes it helps us – but imagine how many more lives each person saved for the Lord’s work can help – we grow as community when we grow each in ourselves:
“LET THE WISE LISTEN AND ADD TO THEIR LEARNING, AND LET THE DISCERNING GET GUIDANCE “ – that is: “To give prudence to the simple, To the young man knowledge and discretion – A wise man will hear and increase learning, And a man of understanding will attain wise counsel…”
IF WE KNOW HOW GOD IS GOD – WHO WOULDN’T WANT HIS COUNCIL!
(and yes Pastor N now – is a wise man of council… ) Yeah God got him GOOD!!! And FOR HIS and GOD’s GOOD!!!
And I have seen many a friend who inspires me in their weakness but in God’s Strength – please continue to pray and know that God wants the best for them and for the people they are with. God ONLY wants good for us – we are weak but He is Strong!
Solomon (King after his dad David was king) would continue writing about this WISDOM – this is from Proverbs 2:1-12 – such good stuff:
The Value of Wisdom:
My son, if you receive my words, And treasure my commands within you,
So that you incline your ear to wisdom, And apply your heart to understanding;
Yes, if you cry out for discernment, And lift up your voice for understanding,
If you seek her as silver, And search for her as for hidden treasures;
Then you will understand the fear of the Lord, And find the knowledge of God.
For the Lord gives wisdom; From His mouth come knowledge and understanding;
He stores up sound wisdom for the upright; He is a shield to those who walk uprightly; He guards the paths of justice, And preserves the way of His saints.
Then you will understand righteousness and justice, Equity and every good path.
When wisdom enters your heart, And knowledge is pleasant to your soul,
Discretion will PRESERVE you; Understanding will keep you, to deliver you from the way of evil….
And how do we use this wisdom ? – how do we “put your own oxygen mask on first, so that you can help others”? – how do we live in order to serve? One aspect of reverence of the Lord is to love His people.
Another aspect of reverence – healthy fear – is to stop complaining about every little thing and start appreciating blessings – like in the book of James – perseverance…
And a clear aspect of reverence is that famous saying: “God put you into this world and He can take you out!” – But God is not mean in that way = He has a purpose we don’t always see. And so since we are IN this world – God wants us to use wisdom to be wise – then we get to share the wealth of our wisdom and work – and our work isn’t always about elbow grease – it is more about giving credit where credit is due and praising God – all creation groans to praise Him – we should too…
We ALSO are to take our blessings and replenish those fertile fields that helped us – and replenish so that they help the increase for next time – like putting down good fertilizer – if this were gardening or farming – sometimes even letting the soil take a rest for one crop season – in other words, we need to listen to God to then know when to act – how to act – when to rest – and always to listen
Proverbs say: Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.
We also have the benefit of wisdom when we have that extra sense – to listen to God and not to the world – like I know something that might seem so silly or even stupid to some folks – even to our family – well if we have worked that out with God – if we trust our Good God and our guts – then we are probably on the right path… God puts us in the path of people whom He needs to encourage – so we are to ENCOURAGE WHEN ABLE – to HELP – Jesus said: 27 Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, When it is in the power of your hand to do so. 28 Do not say to your neighbor, “Go, and come back, And tomorrow I will give it,” When you have it with you.
This is the basis of our Know God, Show Love, Grow Community – isn’t it? We want all to know the blessings of God – and honestly it is part of our Great Commission too – to seriously say that we know it is God’s guidance –
God knows best, and why? BECAUSE HE LOVES US MORE – AS VERY GOOD – AS GOD IS LOVE AND CAN NOT NOT LOVE – SO HE WANTS THE BEST FOR US…
Jesus said look at the lilies of the field and as fine as Solomon dressed as good, yet here today gone tomorrow, the manmade stuff of life is but the briefest time, but how much more God loves us to keep us in forever, not necessarily here on earth, but forever with Him. Our reverence is in realizing His love enough to not spare His own son Jesus in exchange for our eternal life. That IS, He IS a God worth our reverence.
Previously in a sermon we spoke about not neglecting getting together for worship, Hebrews 10, and I noticed in the passages afterwards from Hebrews 10, a “fear” phrase which is clear – that we need to have a fearful check of reality to pay attention to God and accept His forgiveness and grace and instruction – verse 27 “. a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God.”
We should know that as we draw nearer to God, He will help us keep from sinning, He will help us with His Wisdom and strength… and honestly, he would rather that we be weak so that HE can be strong in our lives. We have to reduce anxiety – that devil of doubt – and keep living – remember Jesus said alongside the lilies comparison, (also from Luke 12)
29 “And do not seek what you should eat or what you should drink, nor have an anxious mind. 30 For all these things the nations of the world seek after, and your Father knows that you need these things. 31 But seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you.
Our wisdom has to say to us to be God’s wise follower = He is a jealous God and He will be looking for us as that one sheep of the lost 100 = He is looking for us and knows where we are – as in Psalm 139 – we can’t separate ourselves from God’s watchful eye…
And God needs us for times like these (like Queen Ester was called for her time = God has us here for these times!)
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Conclusion: SO – Faith over Folly, Wisdom over Worldliness, and Fear of God over Forgetting God. It is worth reading these Proverbs – and living them – Solomon asked for the most important thing he could really use, WISDOM, not riches or long life. God gave generously all these to Solomon as well, God is generous that way. Was Solomon perfect??? No, not at all. Not at all. And lots of people after Solomon were also NOT perfect – and yet God continued to secure a remnant of the family line of David and Solomon through hard years of people not listening to God (Dave in many other sermons spoke of this). And we know from this Word of the promises in the scriptures – that THE WORD is Jesus and Jesus came through this lineage of David and Solomon = as promised: Jesus came.
And with our reverence of God – we are more able to listen to Jesus and follow the more narrow path – which we will find is very much more sure than the wider more deadly path of worldliness.
All told, the world still needs wisdom now. Our wisdom should tell us that God has instilled instructions inside of us, a Holy Spirit center in us pointing to Jesus growing, if we simply follow Him over distractions of the human heartaches of this world. Know them – see them – fix them best we can – think Globally and act Locally – act BOLDLY – and spread the Love – remember the “share a Coke and a smile” commercial – do whatever you can to share LIGHT in a dark world…
Please pray with me – Lord, we know you state that “whoever listens to me [God’s Wisdom] will live in safety and be at ease, without fear of harm.” Keep us today in your grace and mercy and lead us to the people you want us to see. Amen
BENEDICTION:
Here is a poem about wisdom to set us off on a good day – listening to the Lord – being philosophical as well as practical
Wisdom is precious to Know,
A GIFT from God to help us grow.
.
When wisdom, like hidden treasure, is sought,
It is an easier path through life that is wrought.
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Be God’s and fear Him, Awesomely,
Desire Understanding, Wholeheartedly.
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The Righteous walk is with the Lord, not the human flatterer,
How God deals with them is a whole other matter.
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Hide Commandments in your heart.
Quiet Discretion will make you appear SMART.
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Side step all of evil’s ways,
Instead Lord, only YOU do we Praise.
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Worthy is Your Word,
Your Wisdom calls out to be heard.
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YOUR WISDOM CALLS OUT TO BE HEARD!
Amen – And have a wonderful day!!! God bless you and keep you!
Debbie Upper 