The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom

Psalm 111 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

Praise the Lord!
I will give thanks to the Lord with all my heart,
In the company of the upright and in the assembly.
² Great are the works of the Lord;
They are studied by all who delight in them.
³ Splendid and majestic is His work,
And His righteousness endures forever.
⁴ He has made His wonders to be remembered;
The Lord is gracious and compassionate.
⁵ He has given food to those who fear Him;
He will remember His covenant forever.
⁶ He has made known to His people the power of His works,
In giving them the heritage of the nations.

⁷ The works of His hands are truth and justice;
All His precepts are sure.
⁸ They are upheld forever and ever;
They are performed in truth and uprightness.
⁹ He has sent redemption to His people;
He has ordained His covenant forever;
Holy and awesome is His name.
¹⁰ The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom;
A good understanding have all those who do His commandments;
His praise endures forever.

Have you ever known someone who was very smart yet had no common sense? It is possible to accumulate great levels of knowledge but still not have the wisdom to use it.  Proverbs 1:7 says:  The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; Fools despise wisdom and instruction. The psalmist says:   The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; A good understanding have all those who do His commandments.    This fear is not a cowering or a terror, but rather a respect and a reverence. It is a logical response to one who is greater, stronger; superior in every way. Many people, rather than fearing God, reject Him, they deny even His existence. They say that it is foolish to believe in an unseen God. 1 Corinthians 1:25 says:  The foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.  Conversely 1 Corinthians 3:19 says:  The wisdom of this world is foolishness before God.    We come back then to the truth that both true wisdom and true knowledge begin with fear, respect, reverence for and obedience to God.

The psalmist says:   Great are the works of the Lord; They are studied by all who delight in them. Splendid and majestic is His work, And His righteousness endures forever. He has made His wonders to be remembered; The Lord is gracious and compassionate. He has given food to those who fear Him.    Wisdom begins with the acknowledgment that the splendor and majesty of all of creation is the work of God. Man, based on human knowledge, explains what he does not know about the world and the universe with theories and speculation. They say faith is foolishness, while they believe in impractical and impossible scenarios for the explanation of what they see. The Lord is gracious and compassionate. He is also righteous. It is not the compassion or the grace of God that fools reject, but rather His righteousness.  A good understanding have all those who do His commandments.   Throughout His instruction to the Israelites God said, as in Leviticus 11:45:  You shall be holy, for I am holy.   It is the holiness and righteousness of God which fools reject. It is His commandment to be holy that causes them to choose to deny His existence. Romans 1:18-25 says:   The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools,  and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever.    Let me be clear. God’s wrath is not against people, but rather against ungodliness and unrighteousness. Those who foolishly reject the compassion and grace of God through disobedience and denying His works, those who do not fear Him with reverence and respect will one day fear the wrath against ungodliness and unrighteousness.  

The psalmist says:  He will remember His covenant forever. He has made known to His people the power of His works, In giving them the heritage of the nations. The works of His hands are truth and justice; All His precepts are sure. They are upheld forever and ever; They are performed in truth and uprightness. He has sent redemption to His people; He has ordained His covenant forever.    Because of God’s grace and compassion; because He is righteous and just, God made a covenant to redeem us through Christ and the cross, so that His promises to us and for us would be granted through Him who died for our sins.  Even this, the wisdom of God to provide a way of redemption from sin and disobedience, is rejected by fools.  1 Corinthians 1:18 says:   The word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.   Again, we must choose between God’s wisdom and the foolishness of the world. We will not convince others. They will continue to call us fools, even as they perish.

Praise the Lord! I will give thanks to the Lord with all my heart, In the company of the upright and in the assembly…Holy and awesome is His name. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; A good understanding have all those who do His commandments; His praise endures forever. 

Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ; precious Holy Spirit; thank You for Your grace and compassion. Thank You for Your covenant of redemption through the cross. I will give thanks to the Lord with all my heart, In the company of the upright and in the assembly; even before those who think me foolish, I will praise You and thank You forever. Through the Holy Spirit may I continue to increase in wisdom and knowledge as I fear the Lord.   Amen.