May 16, 2013: Catching Up.../ Fear the Lord Means Exactly What?

Proverbs 8:12-13

Amplified Bible (AMP)

12 I, Wisdom [from God], make prudence my dwelling, and I find out knowledge and discretion.

13 The reverent fear and worshipful awe of the Lord [includes] the hatred of evil; pride, arrogance, the evil way, and perverted and twisted speech I hate.

Very simple. The fear of the Lord is hating evil, hating pride, hating arrogance, hating the evil way, and hating preverted and twisted speech. Pretty clear.

Proverbs 2:1-22

Amplified Bible (AMP)

2 My son, if you will receive my words and treasure up my commandments within you,

2 Making your ear attentive to skillful and godly Wisdom and inclining and directing your heart and mind to understanding [applying all your powers to the quest for it];

3 Yes, if you cry out for insight and raise your voice for understanding,

4 If you seek [Wisdom] as for silver and search for skillful and godly Wisdom as for hidden treasures,

5 Then you will understand the reverent and worshipful fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of [our omniscient] God.

6 For the Lord gives skillful and godly Wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding.

7 He hides away sound and godly Wisdom and stores it for the righteous (those who are upright and in right standing with Him); He is a shield to those who walk uprightly and in integrity,

8 That He may guard the paths of justice; yes, He preserves the way of His saints.

9 Then you will understand righteousness, justice, and fair dealing [in every area and relation]; yes, you will understand every good path.

10 For skillful and godly Wisdom shall enter into your heart, and knowledge shall be pleasant to you.

Seek after God, and wisdom will enter your heart. 

11 Discretion shall watch over you, understanding shall keep you,

12 To deliver you from the way of evil and the evil men, from men who speak perverse things and are liars,

13 Men who forsake the paths of uprightness to walk in the ways of darkness,

14 Who rejoice to do evil and delight in the perverseness of evil,

15 Who are crooked in their ways, wayward and devious in their paths.

16 [Discretion shall watch over you, understanding shall keep you] to deliver you from the alien woman, from the outsider with her flattering words,

17 Who forsakes the husband and guide of her youth and forgets the covenant of her God.

18 For her house sinks down to death and her paths to the spirits [of the dead].

19 None who go to her return again, neither do they attain or regain the paths of life.

The above bit of wisdom is pretty scary. But true!!!

20 So may you walk in the way of good men, and keep to the paths of the [consistently] righteous (the upright, in right standing with God).

21 For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the men of integrity, blameless and complete [in God’s sight], shall remain in it;

22 But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the treacherous shall be rooted out of it.

Proverbs 1

Amplified Bible (AMP)

1 The proverbs (truths obscurely expressed, maxims, and parables) of Solomon son of David, king of Israel:

2 [a]That people may know skillful and godly [b]Wisdom and instruction, discern andcomprehend the words of understanding and insight,

3 Receive instruction in wise dealing and the discipline of wise thoughtfulness, righteousness, justice, and integrity,

4 That prudence may be given to the simple, and knowledge, discretion, and discernment to the youth—

5 The wise also will hear and increase in learning, and the person of understanding will acquire skill and attain to sound counsel [so that he may be able to steer his course rightly]—

6 That people may understand a proverb and a figure of speech or an enigma with its interpretation, and the words of the wise and their dark sayings or riddles.

7 The reverent and worshipful fear of the Lord is the beginning and the principal andchoice part of knowledge [its starting point and its essence]; but fools despise skillful andgodly Wisdom, instruction, and discipline.

8 My son, hear the instruction of your father; reject not nor forsake the teaching of your mother.

9 For they are a [victor’s] chaplet (garland) of grace upon your head and chains andpendants [of gold worn by kings] for your neck.

10 My son, if sinners entice you, do not consent.

11 If they say, Come with us; let us lie in wait [to shed] blood, let us ambush the innocent without cause [and show that his piety is in vain];

12 Let us swallow them up alive as does Sheol (the place of the dead), and whole, as those who go down into the pit [of the dead];

13 We shall find and take all kinds of precious goods [when our victims are put out of the way], we shall fill our houses with plunder;

14 Throw in your lot with us [they insist] and be a sworn brother and comrade; let us all have one purse in common—

15 My son, do not walk in the way with them; restrain your foot from their path;

16 For their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed blood.

17 For in vain is the net spread in the sight of any bird!

18 But [when these men set a trap for others] they are lying in wait for their own blood; they set an ambush for their own lives.

19 So are the ways of everyone who is greedy of gain; such [greed for plunder] takes away the lives of its possessors.

20 Wisdom cries aloud in the street, she raises her voice in the markets;

21 She cries at the head of the noisy intersections [in the chief gathering places]; at the entrance of the city gates she speaks:

22 How long, O simple ones [open to evil], will you love being simple? And the scoffers delight in scoffing and [self-confident] fools hate knowledge?

23 If you will turn (repent) and give heed to my reproof, behold, I [[d]Wisdom] will pour out my spirit upon you, I will make my words known to you.

24 Because I have called and you have refused [to answer], have stretched out my hand and no man has heeded it,

25 And you treated as nothing all my counsel and would accept none of my reproof,

26 I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when the thing comes that shall cause you terror and panic—

27 When your panic comes as a storm and desolation and your calamity comes on as a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you.

28 Then will they call upon me [Wisdom] but I will not answer; they will seek me early and diligently but they will not find me.

29 Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the reverent and worshipful fear of the Lord,

30 Would accept none of my counsel, and despised all my reproof,

31 Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way and be satiated with their own devices.

32 For the backsliding of the simple shall slay them, and the careless ease of [self-confident] fools shall destroy them.

33 But whoso hearkens to me [Wisdom] shall dwell securely and in confident trust and shall be quiet, without fear or dread of evil.

"Jesus, I fear and revere You! I was very foolish in my younger years. I'm grateful You loved me through it all. And I'm grateful to be in a right relationship with You now! You are my Guide! I seek after Your wisdom! Rule my life! Continue to shine Your light of truth and wisdom on my life. I will obey You. How I love You, Jesus! AMEN."