I have been studying the book of Proverbs during my devotionals since this past summer. This book has revealed God to me in new ways and has brought me knowledge on many different topics. I am excited to share that knowledge with you weekly on this page!
Proverbs 1:1-7 The Beginnings of Knowledge:
1 The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel: 2 To know wisdom and instruction,
To [a]perceive the words of understanding,
3 To receive the instruction of wisdom,
Justice, judgment, and equity;
4 To give prudence to the simple,
To the young man knowledge and discretion—
5 A wise man will hear and increase learning,
And a man of understanding will [b]attain wise counsel,
6 To understand a proverb and an enigma,
The words of the wise and their riddles. 7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge,
But fools despise wisdom and instruction.
Let’s dive into what God opened my eyes to in these verses. It is important to understand that what I am going to be talking about is what God showed me, which may be different from what He opens your eyes to. Dive into the verses yourself as well and allow God to speak to you individually.
Salvation is just the beginningof your journey as a Christian. There are a lot of good times, bad times, and stressful times you will be facing. This is one reason it is important to begin increasing your knowledge and growth as a Christian. Digging into the word and , for me, turning to mentors, have been the ways I have seen my knowledge grow the most. I learned from these verses that in order to increase my learning and knowledge I need to listen, soak in the lesson, and integrate it into my life. Growing knowledge takes work as well. It takes digging into the word, and seeking out God and answers. Truly opening up our hearts and minds to what God has to say to us as well. This brought my mind to the question how do I truly learn and soak in what God is telling me? I have learned many ways to do this. The first way I do this is to open my heart to God before devotionals, studies, etc., and just ask Him to open my eyes, ears, and heart to His word and what He is saying to me. I do this because I have witnessed the change it has made in what I get from the Bible, how my studies go, and even has helped me meditate on the verses throughout the day. Meditating on the verses and what God places on my heart has helped me truly allow what I learn to soak in fully. I love thinking on what God places on my heart from my devotionals because it allows me to fully learn it to the point I begin to act out what I learn. That brings me to my next point. It is so important to open up your mind and heart to the point you will allow anything to soak into your life. I will go ahead and tell you now, there have been many things God has opened my eyes to during devotionals that flat out hurts my feelings. My feelings get hurt because I know it is a sin or a place I really struggle with as a human. Although this really cuts deep, I love when He shows me these struggles. If my feelings are getting hurt in that way, then I know God is showing me my sin so I can begin working on it. If I was to not mean that prayer of open my eyes, heart, and mind, then what God is trying to tell me would go in one ear and right out the other. Fully opening myself to God, even if it means learning I need to give something up, is a huge thing God has taught me.
These verses also speak on fearing the Lord being the beginning of knowledge. I genuinely loved digging into what this means. When I was younger I used to think fearing the Lord meant being scared of Him and what He can do. I am talking about the fear you get when you go to a haunted house. An absolute earth shaking fear. I could not have been farther from the truth. What I have learned it means to fear the Lord is understanding you cannot run from Him, but only to Him. Believing God’s full holiness and digging into who God really is has allowed me to find a healthy fear of the Lord instead of the unhealthy one I had when I was younger. A healthy fear of the Lord allows God to be the center of your life and everything you do to be around His teachings. Instead of being so scared of Him you run away, you run to Him. This healthy fear has lead me to try my hardest daily to be like Jesus and to avoid the sins my flesh desires most. Being able to discern between the unhealthy and healthy fear of the Lord has been shown to be important to my walk and relationship with God.
Find time this week to dig into these verses yourself and seek God. Ask Him to open your heart to what you need to learn and what He is trying to tell you. Dive deeper into what you get from these versus by using google, books, etc.
Here are some tools I used along the above verses to dig into these topics: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/podcasts/tgc-podcast/healthy-fear-god/ https://www.gotquestions.org/fear-Lord-beginning-wisdom.html
