Crystal Writes A Blog

Proverbs 1: The Fear of God Opens Doors

As promised, I’m beginning March with the book of Proverbs, Chapter 1. Visit https://bible.com/bible/206/pro.1.1-33.WEBUS to read all 33 verses of the first chapter.

Chapter One breaks down into 3 main themes: purpose, warnings, and a plea to seek wisdom. This is all about a father on earth trying to direct his son in ways that will bless him and give him a long life, but the wisdom here can just as easily be as teaching from our Heavenly Father trying to give us blessings and a long life. Truthfully, if the whole world would live by the wisdom in the book of Proverbs, everyone would be happier and more blessed.

So, as I was reading this in multiple versions this morning, one verse jumped out at me; the first half of verse 7 as shown in the image. Maybe one of the translations added a word, or maybe my mind conceived it, but I suddenly realized the verse could read: “The fear of The LORD is ONLY the beginning of knowledge.”

See, it’s not about living in constant fear of Him, but it’s about starting with a fear of His power and ability that will get your attention. After that, you can learn to respect and honor Him which will lead you to His mercy and grace… And love.

So many of the messages out there get the proverbial cart before the horse, and the message of grace falls on ears that are not yet listening. It’s like preparing a feast for someone who’s not even a little bit hungry. Of course, God prepares a daily feast in the creations that surround us to whet our appetites toward learning more about Him, but it takes real hunger and thirst to desire the meal for ourselves. We cannot understand the purpose, the warnings, or the pleas of Lady Wisdom without first acknowledging all that God is, so we can desire Him and desire to please Him.

Oh, but once we’ve gotten to that place–on our knees before a holy God who we know as The Creator–and we know what He has done and what He can do, there we find the beginning of the answers we formerly sought here and there but not with any depth or desperation. Now, we WANT to know more about The Lord, and we WANT to know what pleases Him. We graduate from bowing before Him because He deserves it and move to bowing before Him because we are so overwhelmed by our love for Him. He becomes every answer, every piece of knowledge, and every bit of wisdom we could ever seek or desire And now, the fear that got things started has surpassed what was ONLY the beginning of our desire to walk with Him and do what pleases Him every moment of every day.

March 1, 2026 - Posted by Crystal A Murray (aka CrystalWriter) | Bible, Christianity, Proverbs & Wisdom, Thoughts and Articles, Walking With The Lord | Bible, fear of The Lord, hunger and thirst for God, knowledge, loving God, Proverbs, wisdom