The Bible makes it clear that wisdom is obtained through fear of the Lord, but what is fear?

Biblical fear is defined as awe, respect, reverence, and terror. In essence, it is the humility to admit that He is God and we are not.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. (Proverbs 9:10)

Why is fear necessary for obtaining wisdom?

It is only when we are acutely aware of God’s eternal power and divine nature that we can set aside our pride and accept the fact that something greater than us exists. If we believe we are the smartest people in the room, then we will be deaf to the words of the cosmic Genius. If we are not awed by the immensity, complexity, order, and beauty of the universe, then we will never seek the One who spoke it into existence. True fear ultimately comes down to accepting the fact that we live in God’s world and He doesn’t live in ours.

By the word of the Lord the heavens were made,

and by the breath of his mouth all their host.

He gathers the waters of the sea as a heap;

he puts the deeps in storehouses.

Let all the earth fear the Lord;

let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him!

For he spoke, and it came to be;

he commanded, and it stood firm. (Psalm 33:6–9)

Job is a prime example of fear leading to wisdom. Job experienced a great deal of tragedy in his life, which he felt was undeserved. He had some serious questions about what had happened and received little help from his friends, so he sought answers from God Himself. He wanted to pull back the curtain and deliver a tongue lashing to the wizard of Oz but instead found himself face-to-face with almighty God. He wanted his old life in Kansas back but quickly realized that he could be content where he was because the God of the universe had taken time out of His busy schedule to consider His servant. God knew that Job could only become wise if he truly feared the Lord; therefore, He presented Job with His cosmic resume. Job was frustrated because he wanted reality to conform to his own thoughts, but once he began to fear God, he acquired the wisdom necessary to recognize that the world actually conformed to God’s thoughts. Before Job could understand God’s wisdom, He had to be humbled.

Who is this who darkens counsel

By words without knowledge?

Now prepare yourself like a man;

I will question you, and you shall answer Me.

Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?

Tell Me, if you have understanding.

Who determined its measurements?

Surely you know!

Or who stretched the line upon it?

To what were its foundations fastened?

Or who laid its cornerstone. (Job 38:1–6)

 When God was done speaking, Job understood the fear of the Lord, and while he didn’t get the answer he wanted, he got the wisdom he needed.

I know that You can do everything,

And that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You.

You asked, “Who is this who hides counsel without knowledge?”

Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand,

Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.

Listen, please, and let me speak;

You said, “I will question you, and you shall answer Me.”

I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear,

But now my eye sees You.

Therefore I abhor myself,

And repent in dust and ashes. (Job 42:1–6)

God not only created the universe but also came to us as a man. God did not just pin our fear to His natural pyrotechnics but also nailed it to a cross. We stand in awe of God not only because He is the Creator but also because He is the suffering servant.

Jesus is described as the wisdom of God, so what kind of fear do we need to have in order to obtain the wisdom of Jesus? Our redemptive fear begins by recognizing the immense gap between a Holy God and a sinful people. Jesus then helps us understand the extent of this gap by becoming the tape measure of salvation, gauging the distance from the right hand of God to the depths of human depravity. Fear, therefore, not only includes the frightful distance between God and humankind but also the depths to which God descended in order to bring them together.

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2: 5-11, my emphasis)

God’s power is most is most vividly displayed on the cross, where the absolute holiness of God intersects with the absolute sinfulness of humankind. It is here that we work out our salvation with fear and trembling. The amazing thing is that this chasm of fear is filled with a resurrection of hope. Jesus transforms our fear of what we cannot accomplish ourselves into awe for what He has done on our behalf. In order to properly obtain wisdom we must not only fear God’s creative power but also His suffering service because if we don’t have this fear factor in our lives then our spiritual seeking will be nothing but the divinization of our own desires.

For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.” Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, whom God made our wisdom and our righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Therefore, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 1:18–31, emphasis added)

Photo by Leio McLaren (@leiomclaren) on Unsplash