Psalm 111:10: “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; / A good understanding have all those who do His commandments. / His praise endures forever.”

April 26th, 2024 by Pastor Ed in devotional

Scripture uses this expression, “the fear of the LORD,” to mean being in awe and reverence of God, and it teaches that this is to be a foundational truth in the life of every believer. Fearing God means knowing Him for who He really is and being in a right relationship with Him. We are told here that the doorway to wisdom, the key to living well, is to start with the fear of God. No one can obtain wisdom without going through that doorway.

Someone said that the words wisdom and decisions are 2 concepts that should be locked together in our minds. Every day of our lives we are faced with decisions. Some are small and seemingly insignificant, like whether to buy one kind of sandwich or another, while other decisions require what Scripture calls wisdom. Wisdom is frequently confused with knowledge. For example, a person performing brilliantly on a TV quiz show may have their mind crammed full of information, knowledge, but that doesn’t mean they possess wisdom. In Scripture, wisdom is very practical and often connected with ordinary people. Applied to life in general, wisdom is the ability to live well by correctly using knowledge when deciding between good and bad decision. Simply put, it is knowing the right thing to do and the right time to do it.

However, living wisely doesn’t always necessarily mean living safely. Sometimes serving God well means putting ourselves in harm’s way for the good of the kingdom and others. Way back in 1577 Sir Frances Drake wrote this profoundly wise prayer in his prayer diary:

Disturb us, Lord, when we are too well pleased with ourselves, when our dreams have come true because we have dreamed too little, when we arrive safely because we have sailed too close to the shore.

Disturb us, Lord, when with the abundance of things we possess, we have lost our thirst for the waters of life, having fallen in love with life, we have ceased to dream of eternity; and in our efforts to build a new earth, we have allowed our vision of the new heaven to dim.

Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly, to venture on wider seas where storms will show Your mastery; where losing sight of land, we shall find the stars. We ask You to push back the horizons of our hopes; and to push into the future in strength, courage, hope, and love.

“LORD, we ask that you would give us wisdom, even if it means our seemingly safe lives are disturbed.”