He
layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous (Prov 2:7)
The Pursuit Of The Wise: Gaining Respect For The
Lord: Proverbs 14:26-27
26) In the fear of the LORD [is]
strong confidence: and his children shall have a place of refuge.
27) The fear of the LORD [is]
a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death.
EXPOSITION:
A
wise man recognizes his need to possess an appropriate respect and honor of the
Lord…
26) In the fear of the LORD [is]
strong confidence: and his children shall have a place of refuge.
Here,
we find that a wise man is to possess a “fear” of the Lord. What does Proverbs mean by the term “fear”?
The
Hebrew word that is translated “fear” in both of these verses is a word that
carries with it the idea of “recognizing the greatness of someone or something”
and then, based upon that recognition, we possess the feelings of: reverence,
dread and terror.
1.
reverence teaches us that we are to place ourselves in willful
subordination and humility before Him
2.
dread teaches us that we are to approach His
presence with great care and awe in recognition of His holiness and hatred of
sin. It emphasizes our need of
repentance of sin for unfettered communion with Him.
3.
terror teaches us that we are to always recognize
that He will deal with sin in the life of all men. For the lost, He will execute righteous
judgment and condemn to an eternity of separation and punishment in the Lake of
Fire. For the saved, they no longer are
to fear God’s eternal judgment for their sins...they are secure in Him.
However,
He will deal with unrepentant, willful sin in the Christian’s life through acts
of discipline (His hand of chastening). (Hebrews
12:5-11) This chastening can be a very painful and severe experience for the
Christian, and when unheeded, can actually lead to their physical death. (Acts 5:1-10, 1 Cor 11:28-30, 1 John 5:15-17,
Exo 32:32-33)
The
easiest way for me to explain this type of fear in a Christian’s life is
through an example of myself as a child… I feared disobeying my dad. I did not fear being thrown out of the
family, nor did I fear no longer being loved.
But I certainly did fear my dad’s “hand of judgment” (ie a spanking).
In that sense I truly “feared” my father. Many times, that fear restrained me from
disobeying Him. In this sense, every
Christian should fear God.
For
both the lost and saved, His fear should not be limited to simple reverence and
awe, but it should include a literal type of fear and dread of Him, understanding
that we continue to be affected by the sin that is in our lives and are held
accountable by God through eternal judgment or temporal chastening. Neither is
a small matter that should be taken lightly.
This is why Solomon used that specific Hebrew word that tells the wise
to “fear” God.
I
believe this type of fear, due to false teaching, is lacking in the lives of
some Christians today. This is manifested
by Christians who possess carnal lifestyles, take sin lightly and are slack in immediately
dealing with sin when they see it creep into their lives.
In
our text, we find four reasons for the wise man to properly “fear” the Lord:
1.
it is our “strong confidence”. In other
words, through our fear of the Lord we find great confidence knowing the One who
has saved us and the One who is our Lord is the Only TRUE GOD….
He
knows all things, controls all things, has all power and is everywhere present,
therefore, He is the ideal Lord of our life that guarantees we serve “on a winning
team”!
It
is our knowledge of these things that gives us great confidence as we serve
Him.
“What shall we then say to these things? If
God [be] for us, who [can be] against us? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how
shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay any thing to
the charge of God's elect? [It is] God that justifieth. Who [is] he that
condemneth? [It is] Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is
even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us from
the love of Christ? [shall] tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or
famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are
accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that
loved us.” (Romans 8:31-37)
2.
it is our “place of refuge”. In other
words, He is far greater than Satan, the dark powers of this world, and the
events that take place in this world. Therefore, we are safe in the palm of His
hand.
It
is our knowledge of these things that assures us we have a safe refuge in
Him. We have nothing to fear.
“The name of the LORD [is] a strong tower:
the righteous runneth into it, and is safe.” (Proverbs 18:10)
27) The fear of the LORD [is]
a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death.
3.
it is a fountain of life. A key aspect of
coming to faith in Christ is an acknowledgment of His justice and holiness in
His dealings with the sin of lost mankind.
It is this fear of an upcoming judgment against our sin that leads to
repentance and the receipt of eternal life.
From
the fear of God flows forth repentance and eternal life.
“He that dwelleth in the
secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, [He
is] my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.” (Psalms 91:1-2)
4.
Through it we are turned from the traps that death has set for us. Once again, we can see a proper fear of the
Lord will turn the lost from spiritual death by turning to Christ in
faith. For the saved, a proper fear of
God will encourage them to obey Him to avoid chastening, and when chastening
does occur, to swiftly heed His workings and thereby avoiding a possible
shortening of their physical life.
“And wisdom and knowledge
shall be the stability of thy times, [and] strength of salvation: the fear of
the LORD [is] his treasure.” (Isaiah 33:6)
SUMMARY:
A
recognition of the greatness and holiness of the Lord is needed by lost and
saved alike. It is through this
recognition of Him that the wise gain:
1.
A strong confidence as we serve Him
2.
A conviction of the strong refuge that we have in Him
3.
A recognition of the need of faith in Christ and repentance of sin
4.
An escape from the many traps that are laid by the sinful powers of this world.
By
God’s grace, let us all study these proverbs diligently, giving them the value
that they deserve.
May the
Lord bless us as we receive this sound wisdom and then “Think On These Things”.
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