Before we even greet wisdom, she tells us what we need to know:
Proverbs 1:7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge;
fools despise wisdom and instruction.
And again:
Ecclesiasticus 1:1 All wisdom is from the Lord,
and with him it remains for ever…
14 To fear the Lord is the beginning of wisdom;
she is created with the faithful in the womb.
And even:
Job 1:1 There was once a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job. That man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil.
So, wisdom begins with the fear of the Lord. But what exactly does this mean? Is it a fear where we run away and keep our distance, never to truly encounter God? If it is this, then we have mastered the fear of the Lord. Or is fear something else entirely?
For the sages of Israel, the Fear of the Lord was an attitude that is both fascinated with the divine mind, and convicted that fear of the Lord leads to life. When the fear of the Lord is partnered with the fascination, fear turns from cowardice to reverence. Those participate in the daily search for God’s wisdom do so out of fascination and love for the divine, and so they are fearful, or reverently in awe of God. [1]
So, this is where we begin, developing our fascination and reverence toward God.
But who is God? What can the simplicity of wisdom tell us about God? It affirms for us the very beginning of scripture:
Genesis 1:1 In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth…
Proverbs 3:19-20The Lord by wisdom founded the earth;
by understanding he established the heavens;
by his knowledge the deeps broke open,
and the clouds drop down the dew.
And in God’s act of creation, God created wisdom first:
Proverbs 8:22-23The Lord created me at the beginning of his work,
the first of his acts of long ago.
Ages ago I was set up,
at the first, before the beginning of the earth.
God is not only the God who created nature and the laws of nature, but God also created the very wisdom that holds all of creation in order. All orders and laws, all processes and thoughts that lead to life do so because they are of God. And thus, our fascination with nature should inspire our fascination and reverence toward God. We should find ourselves in the awkward place of both wanting to rejoice before God (Prov. 8:30) and in humble silence (Job 40:4). God’s revelation through creation should overwhelm us with the wonder and unfathomable magnitude of God’s order (Job. 38-41).
Even the Gospel of John begins by pointing us to this God:
John 1:1-4 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people.[2]
These verses should direct our fascination toward God, and focus it toward the desire to know God. God has created, and God has revealed Godself in the act of creation. But John emphasizes something that Proverbs assumes: God’s relationship to God’s Word defines God’s relationship to creation.[3]
Our fascination and reverence should create a desire to know more about the God almighty! It should drive us toward investigating God’s relationship with the Word and Wisdom of God, and with creation.
(Up next: Almighty God of Creation lives in creation)
[1] Gammie, Holiness in Israel 126, 133-134
[2] The logos of John 1 is a Greek equivalent of logic, order, or wisdom – Chacham of Hebrew
[3] Ford, Christian Wisdom. 55 “In the opening verses John reconceives ‘the beginning’, and also reconceives God in terms of relationship with the word. The depth and breadth of all meaning, all wisdom, is traceable to this relationship.”
Seeking For Sophia 