-C. Neil Strait
"Fear causes people to draw back from situations it brings on mediocrity; it dulls creativity; it sets one up to be a loser in life."
-Fran Tarkenton
"Do the things you fear, and the death of fear is certain."
-Grit
"Fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Only fools despise wisdom and discipline."
-Proverbs 1:7
Proverbs is one of my favorite books in the Bible. Proverbs and Ecclesiastes are two books that every person should hide in his heart. What a wealth of knowledge and wisdom can be found tucked inside their pages. Free for the taking, this wisdom can be taken from the pages and applied to everyday living for anyone who desires.
I like Proverbs because they are short. It doesn't take much reading to get through a chapter and when you're finished you can file away ten to twenty mini-messages that will change who you are, where you're going, and how you're living.
When I was in high school at Susquehannock High School in Glen Rock, Pennsylvania I took every art class available to students. I even took senior art twice, not because I flunked it but because I loved art and was given the opportunity to take the class one year and help in it the next. Upon graduation I decided that I would pursue a career in art in one form or another. I applied for a job at Penn York Advertising in nearby York and was told that no positions were available. After about five more attempts I think they simply tired of my applications and hired me.
Penn York Advertising specialized in outdoor advertising and was responsible for most of the billboards in York and Lancaster Counties. I soon learned that the artwork on the billboards was secondary to the messages. Since most readers of billboards pass by at fifty-five miles an hour we could get away with artwork without precision. On the other hand, the messages had to be short and to the point. We had only one chance to catch a reader's eye and give him the message on the billboard.
I've called this blog bi11boards because of what I learned at Penn York and because that's exactly what Proverbs do. You can fly by them at high speeds and still catch a life-changing message for your day. What I am trying to do is give you one verse or passage each day that will do just that: give you a message that will change your day. With that in mind, let's get going.
"Fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Only fools despise wisdom and discipline" (Proverbs 1:7).
When I was a kid I feared God. Now this is not the kind of fear Proverbs is referring to but the kind of fear that could be defined as scared to death. Mom spoke often of the end of the world whenever she spoke of the Bible. That scared me. We had a coffee table Bible that was seldom, if ever, read but was still prominently and proudly displayed on the coffee table in our living room. I tried to read it once, hoping I would find some answers to remedy the fear I had of God but it was a King James Version and I understood nothing. What I did read only frightened me more. To make matters worse, Mom taught my brothers and me the short bedtime prayer: "Now I lay me down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die (that scared me every night) before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take." As a child and into my teen years I prayed this prayer every night and would scare myself to sleep or try to stay awake so I would not die in my sleep. I feared the Lord but did not know what to do about it.
Fear can be a good thing. It can keep us from doing stupid and dangerous things. It can also keep us from doing good and helpful things. That's scary! When I think of fear I often associate it with sounds like an animal's roar, a snake's rattle, the blast of an air horn when I'm pedaling along the highway, or just the creaks and cracks of our log house when I'm alone. Many times such sounds alert people to unseen dangers.
The Bible, I believe, speaks of a fear of respect and awe. Not a fear that scares us to death but a fear that makes us aware that we are standing in the presence of the Almighty. If you've ever read "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" by C. S. Lewis, I'm sure you remember when the four children were eating a meal with Mr. and Mrs. Beaver. While discussing Aslan, Lucy asked the question, "Is--is he a man?"
"Aslan a man!" said Mr. Beaver sternly. "Certainly not. I tell you he is the King of the wood and the son of the great Emperor-Beyond-the-Sea. Don't you know who is the King of Beasts? Aslan is a lion--the Lion, the great Lion."
"Ooh!" said Susan, "I'd thought he was a man. Is he--quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion."
"That you will, dearie, and no mistake," said Mrs. Beaver, "if there's anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they're either braver than most or else just silly."
"Then he isn't safe?" said Lucy.
"Safe?" said Mr. Beaver. Don't you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King I tell you."
That's the way it is with God. "'Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King I tell you." Hebrews 12:29 says, "For our God is a consuming fire." Hebrews 10:31 tells us, "It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God." 'Course he isn't safe but he is good and we should see him and fear him with that in mind. It's still the chill bumps kind of fear--a fear that reminds us that danger lies ahead if we proceed in the wrong direction.
Fear of the Lord is the beginning of a knowledge that will guide us through every decision in life and make life better than we could imagine, even in the tough and dark times. Fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge but, according to Proverbs 9:10, "Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." "Fear of the Lord teaches a person to be wise; humility precedes honor" (Proverbs 15:33). Fear of the Lord is what Solomon used when he summarized the Bool of Ecclesiastes, "Here is my final conclusion: Fear God and obey his commands, for this is the duty of every person" (12:13).
It's a better life for those who choose to fear the Lord. His plan is prevention not persecution. He loves us and wants the best for us. To accomplish this he has given us the instructions of a lifetime for our lifetime. There's only one catch: it's a choice. Ours! Not everybody will choose the fear and knowledge of the Lord. We choose to be followers . . . or fools!
Only fools despise wisdom and discipline" (Proverbs 1:7b).
Choose wisely.
