The Beginning of Wisdom

Driving in the San Bernardino Mountains differs from driving in the city and certainly from driving a long country road.

Driving up the mountain, the roads twist and turn and the wind whips around the vehicle.

Unfamiliar drivers are urged to stop at turnouts if they slow traffic or their engines overheat.

If you ride your brakes down the mountain, your vehicle’s brakes may overheat.

You can smell this from other vehicles as you pass them, some stopped at turnouts, broken, with smoke wafting up from the engine.

You must remember that hot brakes fail. Perhaps you need to rest at a turnout.

Driving in mountain fog is downright frightening; you can’t pay attention to whether rails guard the road from the mountain’s edge because you cannot even see the highway edge line.

The only thing you can see is the centerline.

The way to drive through mountain fog is this.

Stay focused.

Keep your eyes on the centerline.

*****************

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

So there is more than one kind of fear.

There is the fear that is a tool of principalities, against mighty powers in the darkness, against spiritual forces in evil places.

This kind of fear (Hebrew- pachad) is rooted in the ending of life. This fear is servile, debilitating, a fear for one’s own safety. This kind of fear was also commonly used in the ancient world to further worship of pagan gods.

In the Christian faith, the fear of God that is the foundation is one of awe.

This fear (Hebrew-yirah) is the realization that God is omnipotent and that He will continue with us in eternal life. It is a familial love and respect, in which we want to please each other.

This fear is also a fear that understands that God is a God of balance who cannot look upon sin.

Jesus is the kinsman-redeemer who, in Jewish tradition, rescues a family member from trouble, who buys back the wayward, who loves in spite of a needy helpless condition.

That kind of fear encouraged by a spirit open to the influence of the Holy Spirit, is the beginning of wisdom.

Jesus, the kinsman-redeemer, the Word made flesh, was either who He said He was or He was a fraud.

As for me, I know what I believe.

Focus and keep my eyes on the centerline. *****************      photograph Lake Arrowhead