“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments: his praise endureth for ever.” (Psalms 111:10). If we do not from time to time look out at this world and the universe beyond and feel that it is all too strange and terrible and wonderful for us to put into words, then we are perhaps not looking closely enough. And if even the creations of God can move us with awe and fear and trembling, then how much more their Creator? It can be more than a little psychologically distressing to acknowledge our own nakedness and nothingness in the face of all of the danger and glory and majesty of God and all of His creations. It is far easier to put everything we know and understand - or at least, everything we think we know and understand about the world and the universe and its Creator into a little box with its own rules and internal logic... and then simply ignore or cast out or try very hard to pretend that anything that does not fit into the box does not exist or ought to be destroyed. It is not necessarily a viable long term solution but it might impart a certain degree of blissful ignorance that we might momentarily enjoy, rather like trying very hard to imagine that icebergs don’t exist or at the very least have no power to sink us as we sail full speed ahead through the foggy night in the North Atlantic. In the safety of our walled off gardens, we have no need for wisdom. There are no thorns and thistles to contend with, we can eat what we want without breaking a sweat, all is in its right and proper place. But if we will first look at the true nature of God, feel the inevitable fear of a tiny, weak, nothing of a creature in comparison to the eternal and infinite expanse that is God, recognize that we are far too stupid and short-sighted to navigate all of the treacherous waters that are our mortal lives using our own judgment and reasoning, then we can come to the conclusion that we ought not to lean on our own understanding but to trust in the Lord. He has all power and all wisdom, both in Heaven and on Earth. What’s more, He loves us and cares more about our peace and happiness than we do, and knows how to achieve such an end far more effectively and efficiently than we or all of the combined wisdom of all the sages and gurus and intellectuals that mankind has ever generated. The fear will not immediately go away as we begin the path of wisdom. God will ask us to do things that make no sense to us, that seem beneath our dignity, that seem despicable even. But luckily, all we have to do is look back at our Heavenly Father and realize that He is far more terrifying and far more worthy of our fear than any challenge or adversity or affliction that we may be called upon to face. We do not have to always rely on the Fear of the Lord as we pursue wisdom, however. The Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, but not its end. As we continue to put our trust in the Lord and rely on His wisdom and do His will, we will begin to know and understand Him better. As we bring our will into alignment with His, we will be filled more and more with His spirit and especially His perfect love. That love will cast out our fear and our ignorance and our vanity and conceit. We will not ignore or disbelieve in the parts of our God or His creations that terrify and stymy us, but neither will we any longer fear such things. They will be familiar to us, friendly to us, even a part of us. The Lord will hold less and less back from us because we will shrink less and less from receiving all that the Father has. When we are nothing and know nothing, fear is the appropriate reaction to being exposed to everything. But when we have received and become everything, then will we love everything, because like our Father, we will be a part of everything, and everything will be a part of us.
