The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom;
Psalms 111:10 (NIV)
all who follow his precepts have good understanding.
In this verse the Psalmist expresses the same idea in two different ways, which we refer to as a Hebrew parallelism. Notice that one cannot even begin to have wisdom unless they start with the fear of Yahweh (Lord in all caps is a translation of God’s name, Yahweh.) If you fear (respect, honor, recognize that God will judge all) God then you have already begun to have wisdom. This puts you far ahead of all the ideologies that swirl around the world today.
So many groups spin their views of reality and meaning without considering the God of all creation. They teach the future generations in our universities, influence our politics, and transform our societies. Yet ultimately, these ideologies and religions are destructive because they do not know the true goodness of God and the neediness of humans. They may receive great honor in our society, but compared to you they are in preschool.
Moreover, as we follow Yahweh our understanding grows, it becomes good. We do not remain as beginners. But this growth only comes as we follow him day to day. We learn as we do; we cannot grow wise just by reading articles or books. As we try to live out his precepts our soul learns what the rest of the world cannot. Others try to find wisdom based on their own efforts, but God has given us understanding that surpasses anything they can devise.
