"The Fear of the LORD is the beginning...."

 Lecture on Proverbs, to be shared tonight and tomorrow, is written......words on paper...... The Lecture

But there is always so much more God has shown me, taught me, filled me with than fits in 25 not-enough minutes—8 pages—give or take a few paragraphs.

The lesson, chapter 2 in,  Proverbs: The Ways of Wisdom, is titled "Foundation; a Relationship with God".

Amazing how God works in our lives to prepare us for what is coming.
    And rest assured it is always His work, not mine, not ever.
          He works, He has a plan, He has a purpose.

For months now God has been giving a restless desire for more of Him,
     His presence, 
          less of me, 
                less of worry, 
                     less of stress, 
      Him in my thoughts, 
           my desires, 
                my motives
                     my worship.  

Along the way, there have been
    glimpses of what that means,
       encouragement that He is indeed giving me the desire of my heart,
            hope for more to come—more of Him.

And now in working on a talk, He has said,  "The  fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge (wisdom) ....."

So we look at words—knowledge, wisdom and fear...
       and He shows Himself to be faithful as He leads and guides, teaches, instructs.
I try to be open,
     with listening ear,
          eager heart,
                thirsty for His water,
                           hungry for His bread.





God has worked in me, encouraged me, confirmed desire, changed me a little/lot over months.....
so now I pray that He uses His truth, His Word, His Spirit to encourage, confirm and change His children.

One thing I wanted to include in the words I put on paper but they didn't fit, or flow, or work came from a blog of Ann VosKamp's sharing a list— 10 Steps to Stay Alive To The Beauty of God's World.  It comes from John Piper's Desiring God website and is something he heard from a professor in college.

It is so important to know who God is, to know what He has done, to know how big He is.

It is only when we know a little of who He is
that we can worship at all,
                that we can give thanksgiving for what He has given me/us

                                because then we an say with David (Psalm 8):

¹ O LORD, our Lord,
   how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens.
 ² Out of the mouth of babies and infants,
you have established strength because of your foes,
   to still the enemy and the avenger.

  ³ When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
        the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
                       ⁴ what is man that you are mindful of him,

      and the son of man that you care for him? 

Three of the steps in the "10 Steps" first stood out to me—I'll start there.

    #1.  At least once every day I shall look steadily up at the sky and remember that I, a consciousness with a conscience, am on a planet traveling in space with wonderfully mysterious things above me and about me.

    #6.  I shall open my eyes and ears.  Once every day I shall simply stare at a tree, a flower, a cloud, or a person.  I shall not then be concerned at all to ask what they are but imply be glad that they are.  I shall joyfully allow them the mystery of what Lewis calls their "divine, magical, terrifying and ecstatic" existence.

     #9.  I shall not allow the devilish onrush of this century to usurp all my energies but will instead, as Charles Williams suggested, "fulfill the moment as the moment." I shall try to live well just now because the only time that exists is just now.

There are more.....but this is enough....now.

Will you start also....asking God to help you?