“Where then does wisdom come from? And where is this place of understanding…God understands its way, And He knows its place…He saw it and declared it; He established it and also searched it out. “And to mankind He said, ‘Behold, THE FEAR OF THE LORD, THAT IS WISDOM; And TO TURN AWAY FROM EVIL IS UNDERSTANDING.’” (Job 28:20, 23, 27-28) Fear is pronounced yir’âh in Hebrew, it has two meanings:
- STAND IN AWE: This is the most commonly discussed meaning, “To have RESPECT and REVERENCE“ for our Omnipresent, Omnipotent and Omniscient God. The King James Bible had a scripture in 1st John 5:7 that very accurately describes the God Head, “For there are THREE that bear record in heaven, the FATHER, the WORD, and the HOLY GHOST: and these three ARE ONE.” This was found in the Textus Receptus or the “Received Text” which were the original writings of those who God uses to record His Word. Most of these were destroyed in an attempt to remove the Word of God and replaced with the “Westcott and Hort text” The religious leaders at that time felt like the “normal and ordinary” men who wrote the original text were not educated enough, so they sent their writings to the famous Education Center in Alexandria, to be properly interpreted. Several verses in the “Original” were left out or wrongly interpreted.
- TO BE AFRAID: Why should we be afraid of God? Well, the Bible says, “Our God is a consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:29) “The wages of sin is DEATH… (eternal separation from God)” (Romans 6:23) “The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night FOREVER AND EVER.” (Revelation 20:10) “…the cowardly, and unbelieving, and abominable, and murderers, and sexually immoral persons, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, THEIR PART WILL BE IN THE LAKE THAT BURNS WITH FIRE AND BRIMSTONE, which is the second death.” (Revelation 21:8) And just so we know the consequences, “the wicked, through the pride of his countenance, WILL NOT SEEK AFTER GOD: God is not in all his thoughts” (Psalm 10:4) Pride makes people self-centered, and it ultimately leads them away from God. “God opposes (antitassomai: to go into battle against) the proud but shows favor to the humble.” Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and HE WILL FLEE FROM YOU. COME NEAR TO GOD and GOD WILL COME NEAR TO YOU.” (James 4:6-8)
Your Personal Pastor -Bill Stockham