A GOOD START

 JULY 11, 2022

The Hebrew word for wisdom is best translated as “skill”. It is used to describe the ability of the craftsmen who worked on the tabernacle in Exodus 31:6. This reminds us that the Proverbs are not abstract concepts. This radically practical Wisdom isn’t just something you know. It’s something you do. It is learning to live skillfully. This week we will begin a walk through the Book of Proverbs looking at key passages that give us guidance on how we can learn to live skillfully.

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PROVERBS 1:1-7

1 The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel:

2 for gaining wisdom and instruction;
for understanding words of insight;
3 for receiving instruction in prudent behavior,
doing what is right and just and fair;
4 for giving prudence to those who are simple,
knowledge and discretion to the young—
5 let the wise listen and add to their learning,
and let the discerning get guidance—
6 for understanding proverbs and parables,
the sayings and riddles of the wise.

7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Several times in the proverbs, including here in verse 7, we are reminded that the “fear of the Lord” is where everything begins. When someone says that we should fear God, people often think it means that we should be afraid of God. But that is not what it means. We are told that God loves us (John 3:16), and that perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18). So the word fear must have a couple different but overlapping meanings. Fear can mean “to cower in terror at.” But there is another definition of fear that means “to wonder and be amazed at,” or “to be awed by.” The difference is understood in its effect on us. To be afraid of something makes you want to run away from it. To be awed by something makes you want to draw closer to it.

Why is the word fear used? Most of the things that we are awe-struck and amazed by are powerful. Like a fire or a waterfall. We desire to be close, but we also have to be careful because it’s bigger, stronger, more powerful than us. Fearing God is to be amazed by who God is and to desire to draw closer to Him.

Wisdom comes from being in right relationship with the one who made the world. The word for this is righteousness. Righteousness doesn’t mean being right. It means being in right relationship.

Biblical Wisdom doesn’t work apart from relationship with God. You need righteousness; that is why Paul says in Romans 1:16-17 that he is “not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” and that the salvation the Gospel gives is simply the “righteousness of God.” But righteousness doesn’t mean trying to be good. That is why Jesus told his followers in the Sermon on the Mount, in Matthew 5:20, “unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.” The Pharisees thought righteousness was achieved by one’s own effort. Jesus is telling them that righteousness does bring life, and it comes only through being connected with the one who is the source of life.

So let's draw close, and begin living skillfully!!