Where Knowing Begins

Transcript

Hello, my friend… so glad you're with me today. This is By God's Call — day 205, Where Knowing Begins.

"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction." Proverbs 1:7.

This verse is the front door of the entire book of Proverbs. It's as if Solomon said: before I give you any practical advice about money, relationships, work, or words — you need to understand one thing first. Everything that follows is built on this foundation. If you miss this sentence, the rest of the book will sound like nothing more than good generic advice, instead of true wisdom.

So let's slow down on this word: fear. It's easy to hear that and think of paralyzing terror, the kind of fear that makes you run away. But that's not what the Bible means here. The fear of the LORD is deep reverence — it is the honest recognition, deep in your chest, that God is God and you are not. It's stepping down from acting like you're the center of the universe and the rules are negotiable. It's bowing the heart before Someone greater.

And notice Solomon calls this the beginning — not the end, not the conclusion, but the starting point. Every true pursuit of wisdom begins here. You can stack up information, degrees, experience, but if you never acknowledge God as the source of all truth, you're building on sand. Knowledge without this foundation might impress people, but it won't hold.

And then comes the contrast, which Solomon doesn't soften: fools despise wisdom and instruction. Notice that word: despise. It's not that they simply don't know — it's that they reject on purpose. They refuse correction. They think they know better than whoever is trying to teach them. And in the Bible, that is not a sign of independence or strength — it's the classic mark of foolishness. The wise person receives instruction even when it stings. The fool turns their back on it.

I want to ask you something, gently: how do you react when someone corrects you? When God's Word confronts you with something you didn't want to hear? The answer to that question says a lot about where you stand on this road between wisdom and foolishness.

The good news is this isn't a decision you make once in life and then you're done. It's a daily choice. Every morning, every decision, you choose between revering God — acknowledging that He knows more than you do — or going your own way, despising the instruction He offers through His Word, through wise people, through circumstances.

So today, before making a decision — it could be small, it could be big — I want to challenge you to ask one question out loud before any other: "Lord, what does this mean in light of the fact that You are God?" Let that question come first. Let the fear of the LORD be the starting point of your day.

Stay close to God. Pray — then act. I'll see you tomorrow, my friend.