Fear of the Lord 1:7
Fear of the Lord
" The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction." Proverbs 1:7
We need knowledge to know about God. The knowledge of God is hidden in the Word. Prophet Isaiah cried, "My people are gone into captivity because they have no knowledge: and their honorable men are famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst." (Isaiah 5:13) Prophet Hosea cried, "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge." (Hos.4:6) The knowledge of God has to be desired more than burnt offerings (Hos.6:6). The churches are going into captivity of the devil because they have no knowledge of the truth. They do not know the Bible doctrines--especially the doctrines of Jesus Christ and His apostles. The devil wants to keep us in ignorance of the truth. They are destroyed for lack of knowledge. The priest's lips should keep knowledge (Mal.2:7). But we seldom find knowledge from the lips of the ministers of God these days. Lack of knowledge is attributed to lack of fear of the Lord. Where there is no fear of the Lord, there is no knowledge of God. "The fear of the Lord is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate." (Proverbs 8:13) How many of us have the fear of the Lord? Apart from the knowledge of God, we need knowledge about this universe and the creations of God. If we have the fear of the Lord, we can discover many things in this universe. A born-again Christian scientist can discover any medicine or invent anything in this universe.
The fools despise wisdom and instruction. God has given wisdom as a gift to the Church. Many children of God who have been gifted with this gift, warn us when we preach or do something which is not scriptural. Similarly, many children of God well-versed in the Word of God give us instruction on the sanctity of marriage, holy living, ethical business dealings, obeying laws of the land, etc. These are all found within the pages of the Bible. If we despise the same, the Word of God would call us "fools." Though we may call ourselves apostles or prophets or evangelists, if we despise wisdom and instruction, we are fools in the sight of God. God uses ordinary people or children to teach us wisdom and instruction.
When I was a young preacher, I went to the pulpit of a small church to preach with shoes on. In India, in small churches, we are looked down upon when we enter the churches with chappals, or shoes. We are expected to remove and keep the same outside the church building. After I preached the message, a man approached me asking for my apology. He told me, "Brother, though no outward holiness was expected, you could have removed your shoes while preaching from the pulpit." I immediately accepted his instruction. According to him, a man who preached the message of God stood on a holy ground. It was lawful for me to wear my shoes, because under the New Covenant, there is no holy place. Yet, for the sake of my brethren who have a custom of removing shoes before entering the church building, I should take off my shoes before entering the church building. After this incident, I will never go to any church pulpit with shoes on my feet. Paul says, "All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient." (I Cor.6:12). If there is a custom which is not contrary to the Word of God, we should accept it for the sake of the gospel.