Get Wise from the Get-Go

I was sixteen-years-old; it was very late on a warm, moonlit summer night and I was trying to make my way back from Tujunga to Thousand Oaks. This was 1971, long before MapQuest, GPS devices or cell phones. Driving an old Chevy Corvair, I entered the 405 Freeway. I had thirty-six cents in my pocket. Cruising confidently through the dark with my newly acquired driver’s license, it didn’t take long before I realized I was totally lost!

It felt like I was the only one on the road, in the middle of nowhere, low on gas and clueless as to what to do next. This was my first driving venture to the far end of the San Fernando Valley. I had no map. I might as well have been on another planet. I felt paralyzed by fear. I literally cried out to God for help. I ended up on a back road, traveling though unfamiliar hills and desolate, shadowy terrain, finally making my way to a city I recognized: Ventura.

It all began with one wrong turn and became the most circuitous route from Tujunga to Thousand Oaks you can imagine. But, after putting my last thirty-six cents into my gas tank (the price of one gallon back then); I made it from Ventura home.

The moral of the story? Usually, the way you begin a journey makes all the difference in how the journey goes. My big mistake was heading North on the 405 instead of South as I began my trek home that night. If you start in the wrong direction, at best you end up taking a very circuitous route home.

Wisdom tells us that the starting line in a successful life journey is “the fear of the LORD” (Proverbs 1:7 & 9:10). Both knowledge and wisdom—necessary components for a successful life journey— begin with a healthy fear of the Lord. If you don’t fear (respect) the Lord, you have good reason to fear (be afraid of) the Lord.

There are basically two reasons why people don’t fear the Lord and therefore get going the wrong way in life: (1 they simply don’t believe that He really exists and (2 if they do believe, they don’t take Him seriously.

Many Christians fall into that second category. Though they may give mental assent to the existence of God, their lives demonstrate that they don’t truly fear Him. That’s not wise. In fact, that brand of unwise Christianity may be more dangerous to the survival of the church than atheism. As Saadi, a Persian poet wrote, “I fear God, and next to God I chiefly fear him who fears Him not.”

Until we learn what the fear of the Lord really is, we aren’t even at the starting line of a life characterized by wisdom.

Someone wrote, “There are four great impelling motives that move men to action: Fear, Hope, Faith, and Love these four, but the greatest of these is Fear. Fear is first in order, first in force, first in fruit. Indeed, fear is ‘the beginning of wisdom.’ Scripture summarizes the chief cause of sin and crime: ‘There is no fear of God before their eyes’ (Psalm 36:1).” In other words, they don’t take God seriously. Where are you going and did your trip begin with a healthy respect for God? How have you demonstrated that respect so far today?“

“The fear of the Lord leads to life, and he who has it will abide in satisfaction.” ─PROVERBS 19:23 NKJV