“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction” (Proverbs 1:7).

Fear.

We don’t like that word. We rarely use this word to refer to someone we love, honor, respect, and adore.

But, that’s exactly what the Hebrew word fear means. It means to love, honor, respect, adore, cherish. Loving, honoring, respecting, adoring, cherishing God is the beginning of knowledge and all wisdom. It is only when we properly “fear” God that we can order all other loves and loyalties in our lives.

Our world epitomizes folly. Our world fears and dreads cancer while laughing at hell and the idea of judgment.

How terribly and tragically foolish.

Love, honor, respect, adore, cherish…yes, even fear the LORD and live.

“You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that – and shudder” (James 2:19).

satan knows God better than any other creature in all of creation.
satan knows God’s truth, character, and word better than any in all of creation.
satan absolutely believes in God’s power, reality, and truth.

Yet, satan does not obey.

Believing in Jesus but not obeying…

That’s exactly what satan does.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11).

Understanding is not necessary for trust and obedience.

Imagine if toddlers demanded understanding before they trust and obey their parents. That would be ludicrous. Toddlers do not have the capacity to understand no matter how much they want to understand. The toddler’s job is to trust that the parent knows what is best, trust that the parent wants what’s best for them, that the parent would never ask them to do anything that would harm or hurt them. AND, therefore, obey.

We’re the toddler. We’re the toddler in our relationship with God. We do not possess the capacity to understand. So, we trust that God knows what is best, that God wants what is best for us, and that God would never ask us to do anything to harm or hurt us. AND, therefore, we obey even when we do not understand.