God Centered Wisdom: Proverbs 9:1-12 (Thomas Schreiner)

Sometimes people say that Proverbs is a secular book since many proverbs make observations about everyday life without mentioning the Lord. But Proverbs is not secular, for no realm of life was secular in Israel. Even the prosaic details of life cannot be separated from the Lord. Derek Kidner rightly says that when we look at Proverbs “the agencies we call natural vastly [outweigh] those we call supernatural.” However, that doesn’t rule out God’s activity, for “the hard facts of life, which knock some of the nonsense out of us, are God’s facts and His appointed school of character; they are not alternatives to His grace, but means of it.” I love that observation: the hard facts of life knock some of the nonsense out of us. I know it is knocked some of the nonsense out of me. I am sure it has done the same for you.

Proverbs is not a secular book but a God-centered book, even when it talks about secular matters. But what I want you to see is that explicit references to the Lord play a major and central role in the book. Proverbs is not as bereft of God as some people claim. The Lord is central to the book of Proverbs, and many Proverbs attest this, but we can only look at a few of these in this post. So, I am going to limit myself to three observations about the fear of the Lord. There is more we could say about the fear of the Lord in Proverbs, but today we will prime the pump by thinking about three dimensions of the fear of the Lord.

First, I want us to see how important the fear of the Lord is and to think briefly about what it involves. In particular, I want to ask how the fear of the Lord relates to Jesus Christ. Second, we will consider the relationship between fearing the Lord and fearing people. And third, we will consider how the fear of the Lord relates to humility.

What is the fear of the Lord?

The phrase “fear of the Lord” appears thirteen times in Proverbs, so it is quite prominent in the book. In addition, it frames the discourses in chapters 1-9. It appears at the beginning of the discourses in 1:7 and in the last discourse in 9:10. We read in 1:7, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.” And 9:10 says, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.” The fear of the Lord isn’t limited to Proverbs. It plays a major role in other wisdom books, showing that it is a major theme in wisdom literature.

We see this in Job and Ecclesiastes. After considering what wisdom is and where it can be found in Job chapter 28, the chapter concludes by saying, “Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to turn away from evil is understanding” (28:28). With all the puzzles and questions raised in Job, the author tells us that those who are wise fear the Lord. In the same way, after taking us through all the twists and turns in Ecclesiastes, the author concludes the book by saying, “The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.” The author teaches that life is confusing and sometimes doesn’t make sense, but in any case we are called upon to fear God.

What is the fear of the Lord? Proverbs describes the consequences of possessing it: those who fear the Lord turn away from evil (3:7), or as 8:13 says “the fear of the LORD is hatred of evil.” In 16:6 those who fear the Lord turn away from evil. We are told in 10:27 that “the fear of the LORD prolongs life,” or 14:27 says that “the fear of LORD is a fountain of life.” Proverbs 19:23 says “the fear of the LORD leads to life.” Or, as 22:4 says it will bring “riches and honor and life.”

It is clear that the fear of the Lord is crucial. For those who fear him hate what is evil and find life. And those who don’t fear him will face death. But that still doesn’t answer the question. What is the fear of the Lord? I don’t want to give a complete definition in this article, but I want to focus on two elements of the fear of the Lord. First, those who fear the Lord stand in awe of God. Second, those who fear the Lord know God.

First, the fear of the Lord is a holy and awesome fear of God. We read in 2 Chronicles 17:10 that the enemies of Jehoshaphat didn’t attack him because of fear of the Lord. In other words, they were scared to death. They didn’t want to die in battle. They were terrified at the thought of being slain. When we fear the Lord we know that we are approaching the holy one of Israel. There is a fear that makes us tremble but it doesn’t paralyze us. God is not just our buddy. We don’t casually enter his presence.

The importance of fear is illustrated by something I witnessed when I was in high school. I was working for my dad in a field, digging up orders for customers. I was with a friend, and a helicopter started spraying crops in the field next to ours. When a helicopter does this, it has to fly very low, but at the same time the pilot has to be very careful when flying so low. As he was spraying, I said to my friend. “I can’t believe how close he is flying to the electric wires” which were hung on the telephone poles.  A few minutes later we heard a terrible explosion. The pilot clipped the electric wires. They flashed with fire. The helicopter crashed to the ground and exploded. Some ran over to see if the pilot was alive, but he died immediately. The pilot didn’t have enough fear in operating the helicopter. It was obvious to anyone watching that he was putting himself in danger. That’s what the Bible has in mind when it speaks of the fear of the Lord. We are not playing games with God. Our God is a consuming fire.

The words of C. S. Lewis from The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe about Aslan illustrate our relationship to God. Beaver says about Aslan. “He is good but he isn’t safe.” Charles Bridges says that the fear of the Lord, “is that affectionate reverence by which the child of God bends himself humbly and carefully to his Father’s law.” So, fearing God means that we stand in awe before the Holy One of Israel.

Secondly, fearing God is described in terms of knowing the Lord. In Proverbs 9:10 we learn that the fear of the Lord means knowledge of the Holy One. Proverbs 2:5 also links fearing the Lord with knowing God, saying, “you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God.” We learn from this that fearing the Lord doesn’t only mean that we stand in awe of his holiness. It also means that we know the Lord. As Charles Bridges says, we relate to God as our Father.

For instance, you don’t really fear God if you are terrified of going to hell, but you don’t know the love of God. Those who truly fear God love him and prize him above all things. Jesus taught us to fear the one who can throw both body and soul into hell. Fear of going to hell is rational, just as the helicopter pilot should have feared getting too close to the electric wires. But fear of going to hell alone doesn’t save us. We must also know God and love God.

But here is where Jesus Christ comes in. We learn from the NT that we don’t truly know God if we don’t know Jesus Christ. Jesus says, “And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent” (John 17:3). And the Apostle John says, “No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also” (1 John 2:23). So, we don’t fear the Lord, if we don’t confess Jesus and know Jesus. And we don’t know Jesus if we don’t know the love of God as it is displayed in the cross. The Apostle John says, “In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” We know God’s love because he sent his Son, because his Son became man. And the Son became man and suffered and died so that we would have new life. God’s wrath was satisfied in the death of Jesus. We need life because we are spiritually dead apart from Christ. Indeed, we came into the world, not loving God but ourselves. If we put our trust in Jesus, we know God and belong to him.

I hope you see how this is organically related to the book of Proverbs. We believe that Scripture interprets Scripture. We believe that what is written in the OT is fulfilled in the NT. We believe that all of God’s promises are yes and Amen in Christ Jesus. So, what Proverbs says about fearing God and knowing God can’t be understood apart from Jesus Christ. Otherwise, we would be reading Proverbs as if it weren’t a Christian book. But the message of Proverbs points us to Jesus Christ, just as all of Scripture points to Jesus. When Proverbs speaks of fearing God, it can’t be separated from the revelation of God in Jesus Christ.

Fear God, not man

Let’s consider another dimension of the fear of the Lord. If we fear the Lord, we won’t fear people.

We read in Proverbs 29:25, “The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is safe.” We are warned here about the danger of fearing people. Fearing people is a snare and trap. This is one of the greatest temptations in life. We want people to like us and approve of us. That is definitely true of me. We want to hear words of commendation and receive an approving smile.

But we are told two important things here. First, fear of people is a snare and a trap. Snares and traps can have food on them to lure animals into them. Or, they can be hidden. What’s the point of the illustration? A trap promises happiness. For instance, I might put peanut butter on a trap to lure mice into it. What promises happiness actually brings destruction. How many have wanted to follow God, but they can’t stand the derision of their friends! They can’t stand being called a religious fanatic, or being told that they are no fun or that they are so conservative or so closed-minded or so unloving. So, the fear of man can keep us from God, showing that we desire the praise of people more than the praise of God. But here is the ironic thing. At the end of the day, fear of people doesn’t really satisfy. After we get the approval of others, we realize that it really doesn’t fill the hole in our soul. No matter how famous or charming or intellectual or beautiful a person is, we see after a while that they are only human. We see their weaknesses and flaws and sins. We lust for human approval to feel better about ourselves. But it’s a snare. It doesn’t work. It flips us up in the air like a snare so that instead of making us happy, we remain miserable. It gives us fleeting happiness but not long term happiness.

Notice what the last part of the verse says, “but whoever trusts in the Lord is safe.” What is the cure for not fearing people? Someone might say: just don’t care what they think. Get over it. But that’s not a deep enough and profound enough cure, and it won’t work. Saying just don’t care won’t give us the strength we need. We need something stronger to keep us in the hour of our temptation. We won’t conquer by trying to be like Clint Eastwood or John Wayne. The American call to independence and self-mastery isn’t the solution.

Proverbs gives us the answer. Trust in the Lord. Give your life to him. Fear him instead of fearing human beings. That means we give our concerns to him, and that means knowing him, loving him, and trusting him. In your weakness, lean on him for strength. The happiness we seek from the approval of men we will find from resting on God. And if we trust God our relationship to people will change. We won’t be so disappointed when people let us down. If we are angry at others, if we are disappointed and disillusioned because of what others have done to us, then we are putting our hope in them rather than in God. But if we trust in the Lord, then we don’t get so upset when people don’t come through for us. We realize that they are just human beings. We recognize that they are sinners just like us. If they minister to us, what a blessing and a joy! But if they don’t come through, we find our safety and security in God, not them.

One of my favorite verses in the Bible is 1 Samuel 30:6, “And David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because all the people were bitter in soul, each for his sons and daughters. But David strengthened himself in the LORD his God.” David’s own men wanted to kill him because their city had been sacked and their loved ones taken captive. Their complaints against David didn’t make any sense. It wasn’t really his fault at all. But when people are hurting, they often say and do things that don’t make sense. They were upset and naturally so, and so they wanted to blame someone! If David lived for the praise of men, he would have been devastated at that moment. After all, he had led the people in so many victories and now they were irrationally blaming him for defeat!

How did David respond? David “strengthened himself in the Lord his God.” David drew near to God in his hour of need. He asked God to give him the strength to go on, when no one was with him. The Lord gave him that strength, and he went on to win a great victory, and then he was celebrated by the people again. Still, David didn’t depend upon the smiles of the people. Some days we are praised and others we are criticized, but what gives us strength is if we trust in the Lord our God. As Proverbs 10:26 says, “In the fear of the LORD one has strong confidence, and his children will have a refuge.”

A life of humility

That leads me to the third truth for us to reflect. We live a God-centered life if we live a life of humility. Those who fear the Lord are humble. Proverbs 8:13 says, “The fear of the LORD is hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate.” Pride and arrogance are diametrically opposed to the fear of the Lord. It is easy to misunderstand humility. Humility isn’t wringing our hands and saying we are nothing. Humility isn’t false modesty. It isn’t saying you did terrible after you pitched a no hitter. It isn’t saying how awful you are when you played the piano flawlessly. Humility recognizes our spiritual poverty.

Notice how closely linked humility and the fear of the Lord are in Proverbs 22:4. “The reward for humility and fear of the LORD is riches and honor and life.” We see a similar connection in Proverbs 15:33, “The fear of the LORD is instruction in wisdom, and humility comes before honor.” If we are proud, we get the crown now, but if we are humble, we will be exalted later. Pride is no light matter, for Proverbs 16:5 says, “Everyone who is arrogant in heart is an abomination to the LORD.”

Why does God hate pride? Because it wants the supremacy that belongs to God. If we are proud, we are lifting up ourselves even above God. Along the same lines, Proverbs 18:12 says, “Before destruction a man’s heart is haughty, but humility comes before honor.” We can’t and won’t be humble if we aren’t living in God’s presence. If God isn’t the center of our lives, then we become the center of our existence. And when we become the center, pride naturally crops up. Pride is like weeds in our lawns. It naturally springs up unless we tend to it every day.

What are some signs of pride in our own lives? One indication of pride is an excessive view of ourselves. If pride is gaining a foothold, we are prone to think that we are doing quite well thank you. And that is almost always accompanied by criticism and judgment of others. Pride is growing when we notice the faults of others and comment upon them. Such pride can be couched in spiritual terms. It can sound like concern for others. But we can check ourselves by asking ourselves this question: Are we starting to believe that we are more godly and spiritual than others? Do we look down on others as spiritual less? Have we quit feeling what Isaiah felt about himself, “Woe is me, for I am a man of unclean lips?”

When we are God-centered and Christ-centered, then we aren’t me centered. We realize that we are little children who need the grace and help of our Father every day. Another way of putting this: we will have a big view of God and a small view of ourselves.

To conclude, we see that humility means we don’t take ourselves so seriously. We realize that the Lord is God, and we are his servants. We rejoice in God rather than in ourselves. We delight in the Lord and not ourselves. If we fear God, we don’t fear people. We don’t pin our happiness on what others think of us. We become more and more like David. We strengthen ourselves in the Lord our God. We say with the Psalmist, “Whom do I have in heaven but you, and besides you I desire nothing on earth.”

Thomas Schreiner is James Buchanan Harrison Professor of New Testament at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Among his many books are Romans, Paul, Apostle of God’s Glory in Christ: A Pauline Theology, New Testament Theology: Magnifying God in Christ, Magnifying God in Christ: A Summary of New Testament Theology, and Galatians.