Ben Workman

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge – Proverbs 1:7a

               Are you ready for that uncomfortable conversation? God wants you to fear Him. Not because He is a grueling monarch who takes pleasure in your suffering but rather because He loves you dearly. A pattern that is throughout the Pentateuch is to know God’s laws, ordinances, and statues so that you may learn to fear Him. God will judge the world according to His standards and expectations. God is holy and by this nature He must punish crime. God will not allow criminals to go free. That is why He tells you about Himself. He wants you to know who He is so that we might not suffer His wrath.  Allow me to implore you some truths that will help you fear God.

               First, did you know that God has expectations of people, and He will hold them accountable to them? This is a hard pill for everyone, including myself, to swallow. In my nature I don’t like accountability. I don’t like stepping on the weight scale because it shows me how I have made poor choices with my eating. I don’t enjoy going to the dentist for the same reason but even more so because that trip is more painful. Do you get the picture? Eventually the truth comes out. God knows every thought and deed that we have done.  

               Another feeble attempt to lessen the pain of feeling guilty is to change my terminology from sins to mistakes. When I use the word mistakes I am trying to hold on to my goodness. This is me saying that I made a wrong choice, but my intentions were good. But after careful consideration I know that I made the wrong choice because the sin benefited me somehow. Jesus didn’t die on the cross for my mistakes, He died for my own sinful choices.

               This is why fearing the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Every choice we make will have a consequence that comes from the Lord. As we walk on the journey of life we will be confronted with many forks in the road. But if we have the understanding that God is going to hold us accountable to His expectations then we will know which paths are the correct ones. That picture is the point of Proverbs chapters one through nine.

               The father knows that his son is going to be confronted with many decisions to make. People in this world will be eyeing this young man’s heart and for all the wrong reasons. Friends who want to take from others for their own gain. Folly, a woman who wants the young man to sleep with her while the husband is away. If his son chooses foolishness, then his son will suffer and die because of those choices. But if his son choices wisely then his son will live. The father knows what is at stake. The father loves his son dearly and is willing to have those uncomfortable conversations with his son because his life is on the line. The father uses fear of consequences to show him life, but love is what compels him to share.

               I don’t ever want to leave people feeling guilty. The feeling of shame and guilt keeps the focus on the individual self rather than on Jesus. But I believe that fear must come first before love. If we do not accept responsibility for our sinful choices and accept the consequences of our actions, then grace will no longer be grace. Gratefulness will be nonexistent but rather entitlement. God must forgive me because deep down I’m a good person. It is God’s job to forgive me!

               But that is not the right attitude of a servant. We are servants who sold themselves to sin by our own choice. We are shackled in chains marching our way to the judgment seat of God. Jesus grabs the chains with his bloody hands and the chains snap. We fall on our knees looking up at Jesus. Our faces are filled with tears, humility, and everlasting joy. Why? Because Jesus believes that I, a criminal, am worth dying for. May we all lay down our lives for the Jesus who loves us all.