How to "Fear the Lord"

The column is changing slightly in that while I’ll still be writing on a wide range of themes from Scripture, I will also examine a number of secular quotations from a Christian worldview.

 
 
In Proverbs 2:1-6 Solomon describes what it means to fear the Lord and to learn about God (v. 5). He gives his advice in a simple If-Then format – if you do this (vv. 1-4), then this will happen (v. 5). The “If section” states 8 conditions and is followed by a two-fold result. A quick read shows that the prerequisites for acquiring wisdom are to –
         Accept my words – store up my commands
         Listen to wisdom ­– concentrate on understanding
         Beg for knowledge – plead for insight
         Seek it like silver – search for it like treasure
It is crystal clear that the goal is not something that happens accidentally but requires considerable effort. Wisdom is not a free gift distributed somewhat carelessly to the uninvolved. When it is sought in the way described, the result is a deeper reverence for the Lord and an increased knowledge of God.
         It is important to note that wisdom is not to know all about God, but to experience Him. Solomon is not laying out requirements for learning about the world in which we live, but the way to know the One who created it. Information is important and should not be dismissed as irrelevant but the more important thing is to know God.
         Christian thought assumes the existence of God, a spiritual being. To call that belief an assumption does not make God less likely. All worldviews begin with an assumption, even atheism (since it believes without support of any kind that God does not exist). Since God is a spiritual being our contact with him must be spiritual, that is, by means of the Spirit. The relevance of this is that knowing God, or learning how to fear him, is an experience made possible by His Spirit. Solomon is not teaching us how to be wiser in general but wiser in our relationship to God. That which we learn from textbooks may be informative and helpful but it cannot make us wise in the way Solomon uses that word. The sage is telling us that to be wise (in the sense of an existential understanding of God who is spirit) we must genuinely desire wisdom and take the necessary steps to make it a reality. It is not that God has a set of ironclad regulations for us to meet, but that we must genuinely desire him to know him. Ultimately that is the only kind of “wisdom” that matters. As we read so often in the Old Testament, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Psalm 11:10, Proverbs 1:7, 9:10).