A Message of Hope

In the last couple of posts, we’ve looked at the Hebrew concept of chokmah, which means skill, but also means wisdom.  Wisdom is the skill of living.  Wisdom procedes from the very nature of God, is woven into the fabric of creation, and is the key for bringing order into the chaos of our lives.

So how do we let wisdom do her work in our lives?  We’re all under construction, and none of us are yet a completed work.  With some people, even though their lives are not yet what they are going to be, it’s obvious that wisdom’s plan is being followed–they’re taking the right shape and becoming what God designed them to be.  There are others, however, whose lives aren’t taking shape – they’re becoming more chaotic.  How can you  make sure that your life is following God’s plan?

According  to the wisdom literature of the Bible, the place to start learning skill in the art of living life is by cultivating the fear of the Lord. 

 Job said in Job 28:28 that [God] said to man,

       ‘The fear of the Lord—that is wisdom,
       and to shun evil is understanding.’ “

 The psalmist said in Psalm 86:10

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom;
       all who follow his precepts have good understanding.
       To him belongs eternal praise.

 And in the opening verses of the book of Proverbs (1:7), we read,

 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge,
       but fools despise wisdom and discipline.

The New Testament, like the Old, exhorts us to live in the fear of God.  Yet John tells us that perfect love casts out fear.  We know that we have been given the right to be called children of God; we know that nothing on heaven or earth can separate us from God’s love.  So what is this “fear” that Scripture talks about.  Well, it’s talking about a particular attitude that we should develop.  And while there are probably many different ways that we could talk about it, I’d like to suggest that we recognize two very important contrasts.

First, if we have the fear of the Lord, we will recognize the difference between the Infinite and the finite.  We will recognize that God, who created billions of galaxies, is greater than all of them combined.  We will recognize that he inhabits all of the future and all of the past and all of the present.  We will recognize that he dwells in all places and that no thought is hidden from him.  He is clothed in power, glory, and dominion, he reigns over the cosmos in the beauty of holiness.   

 As for us, on the other hand – well, we’re not in his league.  In fact, no one or nothing else is in his league.  There is no one that we can compare to God.  And that should inspire us to hold Him in awe and to view ourselves with deep humility.  I’m not talking about self-loathing, but genuine humility in which we recognize our place in the universe.  Wisdom begins with the conscious recognition that all we have and are come from God and that every  aspect of our lives must be under his dominion.  We will grow in skillful living as we daily cultivate the attitude of awe and humility in our walk with God.

He has showed you, O man, what is good.
       And what does the LORD require of you?
       To act justly and to love mercy
       and to walk humbly with your God. (Micah 6:8)

 So, to live in the fear of the Lord is to recognize the difference between the Inifinite God and our own finite-ness.  And it’s also to recognize the difference between the Temporal and the Eternal.  The “temporal” are those things that are “time bound,” that don’t last forever.  Eternal things last forever.  So it seems obvious that our lives should focus on t hose things that are eternal, and yet we get seduced into giving more attention to temporal things.  I’m not sure why that is.  Maybe because our own bodies, our own flesh, is temporal, that temporal things appear to be so much more real.  The things that we usually consider to be “real world” situations—houses, money, cars, jobs,–those things are real, but they are temporary – so they will not always be real. 

 We,  however, are eternal.    We will always be real.  Now, we’re not eternal in both directions, like God is, but we will live eternally into the future.  So it makes sense that we align our lives with eternal values instead of with things and values that will disappear soon.  We should remind ourselves daily that we are ‘aliens and strangers’ (1 Peter 2:11) on earth and that our true citizenship is in heaven (Philippians 3:20). 

Yet while, we ourselves are eternal, our days in this life are finite.  And this knowledge should motivate us to live wisely and skillfully.

 Moses prayed in Psalm 90:12,

Teach us to number our days aright,
       that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

 To number our days aright means to recognize that they are limited – and Moses says that recognizing this is the pathway to having a heart of wisdom.

In a previous post, I referred to Kenneth Boa.  He says that “The great saints through the ages learned the wisdom of having only two days on t heir calendars:  today and that day (the day they would be with the Lord). “  What if we cleared out our refrigerator calendars and our day timers and our iPhone calendars aand lived in light of the only two days that  are guaranteed to us – today, and that day.

 It is living with this perspective, of distinguishing between the things that last forever, and the things that are temporary, and it is knowing the difference between the Infinite and the Finite – that will help us to live with the fear of the Lord – and the fear of the Lord is the beginning of the skill of living.