“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” Proverbs 9:10

Information Superhighway

Cultivating Awe and Reverence for God, Day 17

Walk his Way revisited —First posted in January, 2017

Who among us still consults the dusty Encyclopedia Britannica taking up space on our bookshelves? Most of us now use the Internet to some degree and for various purposes. It really has become the Information Superhighway. It isn’t hard to picture it as a futuristic tangle of freeways in the skies—criss-crossing information, soaring with passion and diving with emotion, providing the means to cross the nations and enter one another’s homes at the tap of a keyboard. You want to know what anyone thinks or knows (or thinks they know) about any topic on the face of the earth, past, present, or future? Click. There it is, whether written by a child or a nuclear physicist, all equally available and, unfortunately, given equal credence by unsuspecting pursuers of knowledge. (Please let me say here that I am aware there is credible information available, but you do have to exercise the very wisdom we seek in order to find it.)

The same can be said for the invasive media we utilize. I am often shocked by the sheer number of oppositional opinions being expressed on any one topic. How many different things can be said on just one subject? Millions of people have their own website and post whatever they want, acting as experts on the topic of the day, often with nothing to back what they say as truth. (This is why, in this daily devotional, we give Scripture references to point to the wisdom and knowledge.)

In the world, much of what is available to “know” isn’t wise, because it doesn’t begin with the fear of the Lord. There is no understanding because it isn’t based on knowledge of the Holy One. The knowledge we are so intent on finding is thus un-wise misunderstanding at best—and outright lies at worst. But man insists on consulting man about life, and so God says, “My people would not heed My voice, and Israel would have none of Me. So I gave them over to their own stubborn heart, to walk in their own counsels” (Psalms 81:11-12).

Job asked in 28:12, 23, “But where can wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding? Man does not know its value, nor is it found in the land of the living…. God understands its way, and He knows its place.”

Long ago, God Himself declared that the wisdom and knowledge we seek is found in Christ. “In (Christ) are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:3). And in the next verse, a reason for saying so: “Now this I say lest anyone should deceive you with persuasive words” (2:4).

Wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Christ, and Christ is Emmanuel, “God with us.” Thus, to fear God and know Him is to have wisdom and understanding.

If Wisdom could speak, what would she say? In Proverbs 8:12-36, Wisdom does speak. Read those verses, and immerse yourself deeply into the words. Allow them to cultivate awe and reverence for God in you. “The Lord possessed me at the beginning of His way, before His works of old. I have been established from everlasting, from the beginning, before there was ever an earth… I was beside Him as a master craftsman; and I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him…” You get the sense that Wisdom was a Person—and indeed it was. It was Jesus.

What a glorious provision by our Lord and Savior. It is incomprehensible how many things there are to know—and He knows them all. They are all wrapped up in Him, available to those who diligently seek and find Him. There is nothing about our lives left untouched by His Word (Jesus again.) There is no counsel we need apart from His. There is nothing we need to know that can’t be found in Him. All the understanding we can hope for is found in Him.

Lord, we pray that You would lead us onto the true Information Superhighway—Your own self. Everything I need is found in You. Amen.