One of the saddest statements in the Bible is the statement: “There is no fear of God before their eyes” (Ps. 36:1). The apostle Paul said, “Transgression speaks to the ungodly within his heart; There is no fear of God before his eyes” Romans 3:18).That this is where our society is today. In the last generation or so, our society has changed from having a moral, spiritual foundation that included a healthy fear of God, to a society with no sense of God and no clear sense of right and wrong. We have raised an entire generation where most are without a consciousness of God—hence: morality.People who have no fear of God soon have no fear of man, and no respect for human laws and authority.“Don’t you fear God?” is a great question, but we don’t hear it much anymore. But fear of God is an important aspect of understanding of who God is and what God does. Our God is a God of love and justice; a God of grace and wrath, and sometimes I think we need to hear about fear to remind us of His holiness and power.God gave King Solomon a great gift—wisdom. He said, “How much better it is to get wisdom than gold! And to get understanding is to be chosen above silver” (Proverbs 16:16). But he failed to apply God’s wisdom in his own daily life, which led to moral and spiritual failure. He also said that the wisdom of God leads to a life of discipline, righteousness and integrity and His wisdom gives us knowledge and discretion and guidance (Prov. 1:1-7). In other words, by learning the wisdom of God, we learn the art of skillful living, we gain mental alertness, moral insight, and maturity.I think we all want to be wise and disciplined. So, how do we begin? The answer is found in verse 7: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and discipline.”This kind of fool is so arrogant that they don’t know that they don’t know. This kind of fool says, “I know what I’m doing and I don’t need anyone to teach me anything.” But in reality, they don’t know and they need instruction—they just don’t realize it.In contrast is the person who knows they are not wise and who knows that God is most wise of all. They realize that they ...
