scared smart

The Word for today:

Proverbs 11:14-12:28

mark this: Proverbs 9:10
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, 
 and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. 

One of my pet peeves is how we try to soften God's rough edges.

Perhaps the best example of that is what we've done to the word fear.

The Bible tells us that the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom (Proverbs 9:10).  But we're often told by our erstwhile teachers that fear doesn't really mean fear--that it means something like reverential trust.

Well, I beg to differ.  The plain meaning of Proverbs 9:10 is that we'd be crazy not to fear God!

Jesus wasn't confused about the meaning of fear.  In fact, he upped the ante, making fear even more fearsome:

"And I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear Him who, after He has killed, has power to cast into hell; yes, I say to you, fear Him!" (Luke 12:4-5)

***

I remember the phrase "scared straight."  It referred to the practice of taking repeat juvenile offenders on tours of federal prisons in order to show them where their current crooked paths will lead if they don't turn from them.

"Scared straight" is the secular equivalent of the Bible's "scared smart."  We start to get smart the day we get scared of what the LORD Jesus Christ might think (and do) about the things we've been up to.

So often we try to tell God what's good and what's bad.  Fear is bad, we say.  But God says at a certain point--at the beginning--it's good. 

Perhaps the best-loved hymn in all Christendom defined the fear of the Lord as a form of grace:

'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved.

The song is not talking about reverential trust! (Why would grace relieve us of that?)  The song is talking about fear as it is commonly defined.

***

The larger point is that we must let God's words be what they are:  fear is fear, wine is wine, leaven is leaven, and heaven is heaven. 

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom.  So let's be careful about putting words in his mouth.

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