Proverbs 1:7 English Standard Version (ESV)
7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.
As much as I hate to admit it, I am not a very wise person. I continue to make poor choices and I do not have much advice for others. What I do know, though, is that I can read Proverbs in the Old Testament, to find answers. We are living in such confusing times. We have access to so much information, and misinformation, that many of us are overwhelmed. What are we supposed to believe? Who are we supposed to believe? I hate looking like a fool, and I also hate disappointing my friends and family by not agreeing with them. So, I have just decided to do my best with the words given to us in the Book of Proverbs.
The first thing we must do is fear the Lord. If we do not, then we are fools. Fools hate wisdom, and they hate being taught. Fools want to believe whatever they want and believe that there will not be eternal consequences to those beliefs. King Solomon advises us to listen to what our parents teach us (Prov. 1:8). I think that this can mean learning from both their wisdom and their mistakes. God gave Moses and His people the commandment in Exodus 20:12 “Honor your father and your mother,that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you." Completely disregarding our parents is not a wise thing to do. God said so!
Once we recognize that God is King of kings, Holy, and Love, we can live our lives pleasing to Him. The more we read Scripture, and the more we meditate over it, and the more we pray to God about what He wants us to do, then the more we can understand what He wants us to do.
There has been "bad" in this world all of my life, but God did not design His world to be bad (Genesis 1;31a "And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.") The "bad" came into this world when Eve (with help from the crafty serpent) and Adam first sinned against God. The world that God designed was forever altered. Throughout the Bible we can read about people who do not want to love the Lord by following Him. They follow their own understandings of the world, apart from God. We continue to see that in our own times. When Jesus Christ died on that cross for our sins, we could be redeemed of all of this "bad" in our lives.
We will not be perfect at the pursuit, but we can gain wisdom by seeking after it. If we approach the pursuit with God in mind (the fear of God), it will lead us to Jesus, who has redeemed us. You can start with the Book of Proverbs and jump to the Book of John. There is more to the Bible than those two books, but wisdom can be gleaned from both!
1 John 5:20 English Standard Version (ESV)
20 And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.
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