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Wisdom Again

             Wisdom’s instruction is to fear the Lord, and humility comes before honor. (Proverbs 15:33)

Carpe diem, “Seize the day.”

But Buddha taught that desire or craving was the root of all suffering.

There we have the world’s range of perspectives: fight or flight.  Yes, we’re back to that. It’s so basic to our lives. Today’s verse is about fear, too. The Bible teaches us that there is wisdom in fear, if we fear the right things. Wise fear faces reality and responds appropriately. I used to be afraid of spiders. Thanks to God, I’m not anymore, but that doesn’t mean I plan to handle one, especially in a  way that might stimulate it to bite. I’m not afraid of God in the sense that I can’t leave the house because He might be “out there.” But I do fear Him in the sense that He is God and I am not. I don’t intend to “handle” Him in a way that might stimulate Him to “bite.” I know, I’ve written about this many times, but can we ever get to the point where we should forget the basics?

My response to today’s verse is that there is something that we need to reject, and it is neither fear nor desire. It is grasping. If we fear the Lord, we will not seek to lay hold of Him, bring Him down, and force Him into submission. Similarly, if we are wise, we won’t try to grasp honor any more than we’d try to grab a tiger or a wolverine. The only safe way to real honor is to treat it with the respect it’s due.

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