“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.” (Proverbs 9:10)
The contrast between Wisdom and Folly hardly gets more stark in Proverbs than in chapter 9. We might picture Wisdom’s house as a church, where people can feast on the meat of God’s word, and drink the wine of His love. Folly’s house however is more like a brothel, which strips you of all but a loaf of bread and tepid stolen water.
Ultimately, it’s down to us as individuals regarding what we will gravitate towards – the family of God, or some counterfeit empty promise of fading pleasure.
If we want to see things as they really are, we need a sight of our Saviour, shedding His blood to wash away all our sins. To know what God has done for us in Christ is true wisdom. The One we must fear is the One who loves us, sinners though we are, and who hates sin.
If the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, then the love of God is the eternal end of wisdom. Like we fear to displease those we love, we should fear to displease the One who loved us and gave Himself for us. To reject Him is to reject life.
We are to choose today whether we’re going to follow wisdom or foolishness: which will it be?