The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. This is a familiar Bible passage to most that
live in Christian circles, yet do we understand it? Reading in Psalm 25:12, “ Who is the man who
fears the Lord? He will instruct him in
the way he should choose,” I was struck by how much sense that makes. Have you ever tried to instruct your child
when he is “fearless” toward you? Did he
listen to you? Did he choose the “way he
should choose?”
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom because
without the proper perspective on who God is in relation to us, we will not
receive His instruction as we ought. We
become unteachable. We are fools. We
must understand that He is all knowing, sovereign, all powerful, faithful, and
completely trustworthy before we will fully receive his wisdom. Distrust in His words and His promises will result
in a heart that will not receive the instructions and therefore, the wisdom of
God. Stiff-necked is the phrase that God
uses in the Old Testament for the nation of Israel when they refuse to listen
and obey his words.
Obedience is another key to this godly wisdom. In Hebrew, the word for “hear” implies not just
listening, but doing or carrying out the command. If we “listen” and intellectually agree to
the wisdom found in God’s word, but don’t carry it out we are like the man in
the James passage who looks at himself in the mirror and as soon as he walks
away he forgets what kind of man he is.
Without the practice of wisdom (knowledge), we are not wise.
Picture a man who has studied architecture and even has a
degree from a well-known university.
However, he refuses to draw up any plans. He proclaims he can be an architect without
using his knowledge. This would be preposterous,
yet how do we live? Can we be “wise” if
we do not apply God’s commandments and principals to our lives each day?
Concerning our children, why do they not receive our wise
instruction? In today’s society, I think
the answer is found in a lack of consistent discipline and consistent wise
living on our part. I struggled as a
child to respect one of my parents.
Yelling for an hour one day about a transgression and the next day
ignoring it caused me to loose respect for this parent. I didn’t want to hear (or obey) what this
parent would instruct even if it were correct.
I knew this was wrong even as a child, but correcting my attitude while this parent remained inconsistent and moody was very difficult.
On the other hand, there’s Aiden, my preferred example given
freely to me one day at the park. My
children and I watch with jaws dropped open as Aiden repeatedly ran up the
slide against his parent’s weak will.
They begged him to stop. They
counted. They declared, “Today we are
not going to run up the slide, Aiden.” They threatened to remove him from the
park. All for nothing. Again and again he mocked them, flagrantly traipsing
up the slide and completely ignoring their counsel.
I used this situation to explain to my children what could
happen to Aiden in what I named “the pancake scenario”. His parents go to take him home and as they
are about to cross the street, they see a car speeding toward them. They tell Aiden to wait. Does he listen to their wise counsel? Of course not, he does not fear or respect
them. He continues on and becomes as I
bluntly put it to my children, an Aiden pancake. It’s very sad, but very true. If we nullify our counsel to our children in
the early years, the eventual result, barring divine intervention, is an/a ____
pancake. It may not be until later years
when we tell them not to drive that fast, not to use alcohol when they are
underage, not to hang out with “those kids”, not to forget to do their school
work, or to keep themselves pure. Most
likely a child’s own refusal to listen to instruction will result in his/her
destruction. Do not be deceived, God is
not mocked, whatever a man sows, so he reaps.
The answer: let us sow
God’s Word into our children’s hearts.
Let us show with our own lives that we agree with these words. Let us consistently discipline our children
so that we are respected, yes even feared to some degree in their eyes. They will listen and obey, not
perfectly. They are still human, like
us. However, they will have that
beginning of wisdom, a fear of the Lord and I would argue for their sake a healthy “fear” of you as well.
