Humility
and the Fear of the Lord
By humility and
the fear of the LORD are riches and honor andlife…with
the humble is wisdom…The fear of the LORD is
the beginning of wisdom. (Proverbs 22:4; 11:2;
and 9:10)
Many of
our previous meditations have clearly demonstrated that walking in humility is
the pathway for living by the grace of God. "God…gives grace to
the humble" (1 Peter 5:5).
In our present verses, we see that humility and the fear of the Lord are
related.
Humility
and the fear of the Lord result in the same blessings. "By humility and
the fear of the LORD are riches and honor and life." The
closing trio ("riches and honor and life")
are an Old Testament description of a life that is fully blessed by God. The
New Testament counterpart would be fullness of spiritual life. "I
have come that they may have life, and that they may have it
more abundantly" (John 10:10).
Humility and the fear of the Lord also result in wisdom. "With
the humble is wisdom… The fear of the LORD is
the beginning of wisdom."
Humility is
the candid acknowledgment of our absolute need for the Lord to
work thoroughly in our lives day by day. The fear
of the Lord is respect and reverence toward
our great God. It is not a fear involving terror or apprehension. Rather, it is
based upon profound admiration and dependent devotion.
Those
who humbly fear the Lord (by placing their admiration and devotion in Him) also
embrace His perspectives and values. They develop a hatred for
the things that He hates. "The fear of the LORD is
to hate evil; pride and arrogance and
the evil way and the perverse mouth I hate" (Proverbs 8:13).
Correspondingly, those who have respect and reverence for the Lord develop
a love for all that He loves. The Lord loves for His people to
walk in righteousness and justice. "The LORD loves the righteous…the LORD
loves justice"(Psalm 146:8 and 37:28). The Lord
loves Israel, His chosen nation. "The LORD did
not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more
in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples" (Deuteronomy 7:7).
The Lord loves His church, the children of God. "Behold
what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us,
that we should be called children of God!" (1 John 3:1).
The Lord loves the world, those who need to know Him. "For God so
loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever
believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life" (John 3:16).
Lord
God Almighty, I humbly bow before You, acknowledging my absolute need for You
to work thoroughly in my life day by day. I want to walk in the fear of the
Lord, placing my admiration and devotion in You. I want to hate all that You
hate and love all that You love, in Jesus' name, Amen.
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