The Fear of the Fool
“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; the fool despises wisdom and instruction.”
- Proverbs 1:7
He could not have been more than 4 years old the first time I heard him say this verse in its entirety. My eldest son stumbled through the words with a huge smile, as he watched my wife and I grin from ear to ear. The irony is that his recitation did not find its foundation in the verse that he espoused. Micah spoke these words because he revered the approval and acceptance of his parents: a beautiful and simple motive.
But he did not comprehend what he was communicating — and even if he understood the meaning, he was profoundly ill-equipped to recognize the implications of what he was saying.
As I look back and think about his chubby cheeks and the sweet, proud look on his face, I cannot help but see my reflection. The mirror that I looked into did not just remind me that we share half of his DNA; that is not what stuck out.
I share the ability to restate a life altering truth without having allowed the reality to penetrate my heart and motives. Let’s call this deficiency sin. It is the condition that poisons my heart and mind, and makes me an primed candidate for Satan’s temptations and accusations.
If the Proverb told us to consider God’s thoughts and feel free to try to please others and win their approval, the statement would be more achievable. Honestly, even if the verse told us to highly esteem God and use our own reasoning, the concept would be simpler. But it doesn’t.
Proverbs 1:7 is not simply a command to fear God and humbly receive correction. Instead, we are given a diagnostic Word from God and a revelation of what a wise and blessed life looks like.
Do you receive instruction from the Word of God, and through the mouth of His people? Do you recognize wisdom and respond accordingly? If not, the problem may be less of a failure to obey a command, and more accurately an echocardiogram exposing who it is that we fear. You, like Micah and me, might fear what those around you think and want more than God. This is definitionally foolishness.
What we do with this verdict will further undress our hearts and what it most desires. The Law, the Prophets, and the Wisdom literature have one primary goal: show us our sin, and open us to repent towards the God that draws near.
If (and when) we find ourselves on the foolish side of the spectrum, God wants to use verses like this to show He has a better path for us. The road towards godliness is the blessed way, not the impoverished one. The Lord’s explanation of the one who fears Him is an invitation to live a life according to the Owner’s manual: He made you and He knows what kind of fuel you need and run best on.
The fool is not only the one that rejects eternal life and forgiveness, he is one who gives himself with the wrong fuel. Like a car running on salt water instead of gas, the fool will sputter and struggle until he eventually breaks down.