Read: Proverbs 3:1-8

Often things are repeated so that we learn them. To learn a psalm, you sing it many times. Your parents have told you often to say, “Please” and “Thank you.” Your teachers have told you the same spelling rules over and over again. By hearing things many times, we learn them and hopefully put them into practice.

In Proverbs, the Lord also repeats himself. What he tells us is important and he wants us to learn it and always remember it. In verse 7 God says, “Do not be wise in your own understanding,” and just two verses before that he says, “Lean not on your own understanding.”

The Lord doesn’t want us to think that we know everything and can do everything ourselves. Sometimes we would like to be able to control the world, to make things happen how we would like. But that is exactly what Adam and Eve tried to do in Paradise and that’s what led to all the sin in the world.

Instead of trying to control the world and the events of our lives, we must fear the Lord and depart from evil. That is what the rest of verse 7 says. To fear the Lord doesn’t mean to be scared of him, like you might be scared that you will get caught after you have done something wrong. Those who reject the Lord and don’t love him will be afraid of the Lord in this way.

But for believers, to fear the Lord means to truly know the Lord and to trust him, to know that he is in control of our lives. It is to believe that God is who he says that he is. He is holy, righteous, loving, just, merciful, and faithful. He is the one who sent Christ to die on the cross for our sins.

To fear God means to trust him and to pray to him. It means to ask God to guide you, to show you your sins and to change you. It means to know that you are forgiven through Jesus Christ.

Reflection with your child:

What does it mean to fear God?

Source: Sermon by Rev. D. Wynia