The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
This proverb is crucial, for without fearing the Lord the rest are wasted. The wise King Solomon put it first! To fear God is the basic foundation for learning, but wisdom and instruction are rejected by fools, for they are selfish and proud without regard for God. Fools love their own opinion. Fools want to promote their own thoughts instead of search for the truth. Without the true fear of God you cannot start learning.
What is the fear of God? It is the humble submission to His Word and an affectionate reverence for Him. Loving His commands and hating evil, that is the fear of The Lord. It seeks to please Him and to know His forgiveness. A man who trembles humbly at God's Word is a man who fears Him.
Men, natural men, who do not fear God are fools. Perverse are their reasoning processes. Why? Dear reader, because they reason in a circle from their own ideas, their own conceited ideas. Reasonable and wise are spiritual men who do fear God. Why? Because their faith in God The Creator invoke the beginning of their thoughts.
The man who's a fool cannot prove his theories. He calls hallucinations like evolution to be science, but dear reader this man has never observed evolution. Or has he duplicated it in a laboratory. He is a fool ! And this so called science of his, it is merely a fable!
The believer on the other hand knows that the bible is absolutely true, externally and internally, but the believer cannot and will not prove it to the man who is the fool. And why is that? Because the fool is missing one essential factor, faith!.
Let's consider faith closely. In himself and in his other fellow fools the fool has trust, belief and faith. Self deception is the faith in lies, which the fool has. Self-instruction which the believer has, is faith in God and faith in God's Word.
Fearing God dear reader, is the beginning of knowledge! If you fear God you believe and trust His Word. Fearing God means that you do not fear man.
Wisdom originates in the fear of the Lord! Mens eyes, hearts and ears are opened by God to wisdom and truth. God opens men's eyes to His Word. He shows them His secrets. Wisdom cannot be found anywhere in this universe but in the fear of God.
