Fear of the Lord

Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend the garden and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat;  but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” Genesis 2:15-17

After the Lord created Adam, He allowed Him to name all the animals and to tend the garden. Adam gained knowledge and understanding of his environment through his relationship with the Lord. He had no need for the knowledge of good and evil, for the Lord had provided everything good for him. He wasn’t missing out on anything that he needed to know. However, the serpent deceived Adam and Eve into thinking that they were missing out if they didn’t eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The serpent even told them that if they eat of it, they will become like God!

The truth is that Adam and Eve were already like God! The Lord had created them in His image! At the same time, Adam and Eve were designed to remain dependent on the Lord and gain knowledge in their relationship with God. The enemy tried to pull them away from their dependency on the Lord and have them seek knowledge independent from Him! This led them to rebellion.

In their perfect state, Adam and Eve were tempted by Satan to crave knowledge and seek it in an ungodly way. Anytime, we try to take matters into our own hands, we’re not allowing the Lord to lead and guide us! We have chosen to fulfill our own will apart from God’s will, and that’s called rebellion!

Because they hated knowledge
And did not choose the fear of the Lord,
They would have none of my counsel
And despised my every rebuke.
Therefore they shall eat the fruit of their own way,
And be filled to the full with their own fancies.
For the turning away of the simple will slay them,
And the complacency of fools will destroy them;

But whoever listens to me will dwell safely,
And will be secure, without fear of evil.” Proverbs 1:29-33

The above scripture tells us that people hated knowledge and did not fear God! It wasn’t that people didn’t want to learn new things, but they wanted to do it apart from the fear of the Lord! Isn’t this what we see in our culture nowadays!? We do not have lack of education or knowledge in this country; we have variety of ways to seek and obtain them. People spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to go to prestigious schools in search of impressive education. Their hope is to gain knowledge and expertise, so they can gain good income and thereby build their dream life!

People are programmed to think that the way to success is through education and gaining knowledge. For many, their faith is that the knowledge will bring security and satisfaction. They cannot imagine that a personal relationship with our Creator can settles their hearts.

True knowledge will include God as the center of it all. Man’s minute and carnal understanding of his world is deficient and inadequate apart from the knowledge of his Creator and Savior! When we look to the Lord as the foundation for our lives, then the knowledge gained will be filtered through the knowledge of God, and consequently, the end result is to glorify God!

I will continue with this subject in the next devotional.