Our Responsibilities With Knowledge 3: Fear the Lord
David W Palmer
God has done so much for us in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus: he made us alive with Jesus, has raised us up together with him, and seated us together at God’s right hand (Eph. 2:5–6). But it is also clear that he left us with some responsibilities. Today we look at two more of our God-given assignments where knowledge is concerned.
7. Fear the Lord; This is the Beginning of Knowledge
(Proverbs 1:7 NKJV) “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, But fools despise wisdom and instruction.”
If we do not fear the Lord and do not submit to him (as we saw in earlier studies) we are removing ourselves from the position where we could receive his true knowledge. Furthermore, if we rebel against God, submitting to the deceiver, the knowledge we receive will be coming from the father of lies (John 8:44); it will be the perverted knowledge of this world, and it will lead to our destruction (See: James 3:14–18, Hosea 4:6). Therefore, we should “fear the Lord” and submit to him to receive revelation of his knowledge. This is how the process of revelation knowledge begins: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.”
Note from the above proverb that only “fools” despise wisdom and instruction.
8. Renew Your Mind with God’s Truth.
(Romans 12:2 CSB) Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God. .”
God’s true knowledge has the potential to transform us. However, this transformation does not happen automatically; God supplies the knowledge, but we have to supply the work necessary to build it into our lives. We literally need to “renew our minds” with God’s truth so we can live by it. This takes constant work and vigilance:
(Hebrews 4:11 KJV) “Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.”
We need vigilantly to apply God’s truth to our minds, casting down all contrary thoughts along with all deceptive knowledge. We literally need to bring our every thought “into captivity to the obedience of Christ,” as the word of God says:
(2 Corinthians 10:5 NKJV) “Casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.”
Wrestling to cast down proud, deceptive thoughts and imaginations truly is warfare. And this is the warfare that engages us daily. The apostle Paul said that we wage this war in the spirit realm; therefore, it is spiritual warfare:
(2 Corinthians 10:3-4 NKJV) “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. {4} For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds.”
Renewal of the mind is clearly our own individual responsibility; no one, not even God, can do this for us. It requires diligence and work, but it is the only way God’s knowledge can transform us fully.
Today, I encourage you; contrary to our relaxed and informal Western culture, we need to maintain the fear of the Lord. This is a reverential respect—a constant knowing that everything we do is done fully in his sight—and that we will have to give account to him for it. Fear of the Lord is honoring his holiness, his values, and his desires above our own; it is living in honest, humble submission to his will; it is laying our lives down to serve as Jesus did. As we do this, we will receive from him revelation of his truth; and by constant application of this into our minds, we can be transformed into all that he has planned for us.
Let’s begin now with a fresh search of our hearts to ensure that we are walking in the fear of the Lord, and applying the truth we already know. Then, we need to be ready for fresh manna from God every day—spiritual food and mind renewing material.
