Proverbs 1:7

Fellowship - Proverbs 1:7 

I accepted the invitation to bring a response this morning to Proverbs 1:7 “Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” 

Fear. My heart immediately jumps to the night Jesus the Christ was born—to the shepherds in the fields. When the angel appears to them—I imagine the angel as astonishingly bright in the sky. He or she appears and speaks and there has to be fear. And the angel then tells the shepherds—Do Not Be Afraid. 

Then “an army of the troops of heaven, a heavenly knighthood” joins the angel praising: “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace”—did that bright light hovering in the sky multiply and grow brighter? 

Did the night mimic the brilliance of day? 

And then, God’s messengers leave and there is darkness.

As the shepherds’ eyes adjust—as my eyes adjust—to the night sky, do the stars now seem very tiny? Smaller, somehow? 

There in the fields at night, were the shepherds—human like me—filled with fear? 

The shepherds were in a place familiar to them and could choose to remain there. Or, they could choose to seek out the Child born in the town of David. The Bible tells us they “went with haste and by searching” found Mary and Joseph, and the Baby. They chose to move.

As the shepherds drew close to the place where the Child lay, did the light shine from the Child? A light more brilliant than the night sky filled with messengers? 

And, as a shepherd coming into the birth place, did I pause? Do I choose to look at the Child from just inside the entrance? As others moved closer toward the Child and his parents? Are they drawing close? Did some stand like me? Did others kneel? 

And, as only God could envision and orchestrate that perfect moment, did each shepherd remember the words of the angel—Do Not Be Afraid? In the presence of the Holiness, does my human heart beat faster? Did another person's heart skip a beat in awe and wonder? Did someone smile? Did someone's eyes fill with tears? Did words of adoration escape the lips of someone next to me, as I stood speechless with praise? 

On an ordinary night God’s witnesses look up at the night sky and are terribly frightened by the beginning of something extraordinary. The shepherds’ first response is fear. And, the angel-messenger announces—Do Not Be Afraid. 

Fear is somehow linked to the darkness—or begins in the darkness. I believe fear resides within the graceless space, the darkness within my own human heart. 

God invites me into the discovery, to confess my fear, and with haste and by searching, seek with awe and wonder the wisdom of God—a wisdom as vast as the universe that holds the stars in the night sky. 

Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

Rw

Scripture: Luke 2:8-16 AMPC Amplified Bible, Classic Edition more

Suggested image: Birth of The King by C. Michael Dudash