The beginning of knowledge...

People used to teach their children via what are called "oral traditions".  Stories were shared, history, geneologies, etc. were passed on.  Eventually these were written down, and passed from one generation to the next.  When things are written down, something amazing happens.  You can now tie events to time, and time and events to  people.  One of the things I love about the Bible, is that many of the books are actually collections of letters or instruction.  Writing things down (notebooks, blog, etc) helps provide points of reference in our lives.  Things we can look back on, put the pieces together and see not only where we have been, but see where it lead us to and potentially where we are headed.  

Tonight's passage does  a great job of telling us to seek instruction and wisdom:  The proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel: To know wisdom and instruction, to understand words of insight, to receive instruction in wise dealing, in righteousness, justice, and equity; to give prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the youth— Let the wise hear and increase in learning, and the one who understands obtain guidance, to understand a proverb and a saying, the words of the wise and their riddles. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction. (Proverbs 1:1-7 ESV)

To seek to understand God, what He is like, and how He is moving in our lives, we must understand that He is not bound by time.  He has always been and will always be.  In addition to always being, God is also all knowing.  Put those 2 things together and it means that God is not surprised by future events, nor is He ignorant of the past.  Understanding this about God tells us much about who He is and what He is like, for the past shows a path to the present and we can learn from that path and apply it to our future.  Tonight's passage tells us that we must "hear and increase in learning" and that "The fear of The Lord is the beginning of knowledge".  If we do not look at that path of the past, we would have no wisdom to hear, we would have no knowledge of why we should fear God (and Love  Him).  Many people think that the "God of the Old Testament" is an angry, judgemental God, and the "God of the New Testament" is a God of love.  There is but one God and He is mighty, He is Holy, He is righteous, and He does judge...and we should fear and respect Him, be in reverance of Him.  Then realize that the Old Testament and the New Testament are simply God's story.  It's a love story, about a Father that loves His children and all the things that He did for them and what they did in return...and even after all the rejection, the Father keeps on loving...and even paid a tremendous price for ALL of His children to have a glorious inheritance, if they would simply choose Him.