A Life of Fear of God (Meditation on Proverbs)

(Introduction)

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction... Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised." (Proverbs 1:7, 31:30)

About 14 years ago, God began revealing more and more of my own foolishness and ignorance through His Word. He gave me the heart that I could no longer live foolishly in this way. Since then, I have held onto the verse from James 1:5, "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him." I decided to seek "wisdom" from God and meditate on the "books of wisdom" in the Bible. The first book I chose to meditate on was Psalms. After meditating on Psalms for about 4 years (from September 21, 2005, to September 30, 2009), the next book I meditated on was Ecclesiastes (from October 7, 2009, to December 22, 2010). Then, starting on January 5, 2011, I began preaching on the book of Proverbs during our Wednesday prayer meetings, and I finally completed it on October 9, 2019. I am deeply thankful to God for the grace of being able to meditate, preach, and re-meditate on the Word of Proverbs for more than 8 years. I am also grateful to the church members who have listened to these sermons throughout the years.

I believe that, if the Lord allows, this collection of meditations on Proverbs will one day be turned into a book. I have titled it "A Life that Fears God". The reason for this title is that both the first chapter, verse 7, and the last chapter, verse 30, of Proverbs mention "the fear of the Lord" (1:7) and "the woman who fears the Lord" (31:30). As I meditated on these two verses, I realized that "the fear of God" is the central theme of the entire book of Proverbs. And I believe that fearing God is indeed wisdom (Proverbs 1:7, 9:10, 15:33; cf. Job 28:28; Psalm 111:10). I hope that the Lord will use this meditation on Proverbs as a tool to impart wisdom to the brothers and sisters who read it, enabling them to live lives that fear God.

“Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.” (Matthew 10:16)

With the desire to live a life that fears God,

Pastor James Kim
(October 13, 2019, with a heart longing for the wisdom that God gives)