Good day every one. I trust this finds all doing well. Monday sure was a rainy day wasn't it? Let's be in prayer for all who have to travel today and tomorrow in the rain. Remember DO NOT ATTEMPT TO CROSS LOW WATER CROSSINGS! BARRICADES ARE MEANT TO KEEP US OUT AND AWAY FROM THE DANGER THE WATER POSES.
Here is today's study guide:
Tuesday: Proverbs 1:7 says something quite interesting about our attitude toward God. Notice the word we commonly associate with being scared. Look up that word in your dictionary and see how it can relate to your understanding of God and what God could be sharing with you.
Proverbs 1:7: The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge (NRSV)
Quite impressive words from the person considered by many, especially those in the Bible, as the wisest man who ever lived. To "fear" the Lord is the "beginning of knowledge." What a starting point. Fear in this case does not necessarily mean to be afraid of God. This is the "fear" that means to hold God with awesome respect. There's that word "awe" again. The same found among the first Christians in Acts 2 and that should be found among us. God was to Solomon and to the first Christians such an awesome being that all God had to share was received with that respect and appreciation that allowed it to bring great blessing to them.
It was in 1965 that this servant moved from the small town of Kingsville, Texas to the even-then huge Houston. The school zone in which I lived sent me to Sidney Lanier Junior High which had a pretty good band. I played the baritone and got in with no problem. We received an invitation to play at an Astros game in the newly completed Astrodome being touted as the 8th Wonder of the World! The word awe does not begin to explain the mouth-dropping experience of seeing this massive structure near to the equally impressive but now obsolete Colt .45 Stadium. To walk in to the world's first indoor airconditioned stadium was incredible. It left me with an image I will never forget. Such is the awe that we should see in that word "fear" when used to describe "fear of the Lord."
How do we receive our daily reading of God's Word? Do we reflect on it with awe and wonder? Or do we receive it with some skepticism? Jesus had it right when He spoke of our need to approach life and God with childlike wonder. If we do, Jesus said, we begin to understand the Kingdom of God is ours. We can enter in with amazement and glee and know that we belong. That my friends, is but the start of the journey with the Lord that the wise king called "knowledge."
PRAYER: God of the journey, allow us to travel with you with awe and wonder. Let us be open to new understanding of the joy that is ours when we declare ourselves to be yours. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
Have a great day!
Blessings,
e.v.
