“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” – Proverbs 9:10
Magnificent God,
You taught us that true wisdom begins with the fear of the Lord. That is something I don’t hear a lot about these days. Not many want to talk about fearing the Lord with absolute awe encased in highest respect and honor. Nope. We want to talk about You being our best friend and buddy. In our casualness we saddle up next to You like neighbor Joe and hand Gou a glass of tea and say “how’s it going Lord?” We crank up the volume on the latest praise song, add the bass till the floor vibrates, and sing to Elvis lyrics that have been incorporated into hymns. In all of this celebrating we may have forgotten just who You are. We sometimes give You less homage than our President, less than the Queen of England and even less than the CEO of our companies. I watch the tremendous preparations that go on when a dignitary is visiting, so many details and a ton of behind the scenes involvement for just one brief visit.
Then, when the Head of State arrives there is much fanfare and celebration but there is always reverence for that person and the position they hold. Why don’t we do that for You? We sometimes act as if You are more of a fraternity brother than the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Forgive us! I remember as a
little girl when I would enter the sanctuary of our church there was just this awesomeness and stillness that would come over me. It was holy ground to me.
I expected You there. I learned what reverence meant. I am afraid our children see our sanctuaries as more of a theatre or event arena. “When are we gonna start jammin” seems to be the attitude. And I know Lord that I am probably considered a prude, old-fashioned, and a die-hard traditionalist. In my journey of faith I have gone to both extremes – ultra conservative to super radical and back again. But what I have learned is that worship can only come when I am before Your throne and I can only come to Your throne by the way of the cross.
And when I am before Your cross the only way to look is up. And when I look
up grace covers my face in bead-drops of mercy and then worship is compulsive, combustive, effusive and expansive. Knowing that I am in the presence of God Most High who with a thought could annihilate all of creation;
I am in the presence of the Lion of Judah whose piercing eyes penetrate into the core of my soul; I am in the presence of Absolute Truth and Redeeming Love and somehow Elvis, Elton John, and the Eagles just don’t seem to fit anymore. Dear Father help me to know, live and teach “fear of the Lord.”
Love,
Penny
