IBS Psalm 111:10 (1/29/14)

Inductive Bible Study Method for Psalm 111:10 (1-29-2014)

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; a good understanding have all those who do His commandments. His praise endures forever.”

This weeks theme is wisdom. James 3:13-17 is about how to discern between godly wisdom and worldly wisdom and then explains what the fruits of godly wisdom are. We can see the difference between the two kinds of wisdom by judging their fruits: the wisdom that comes from the world and Satan is full of selfishness and confusion, and wisdom that comes from God is pure, willing to yield, meek and gentle. Psalm 90:12 is about one of the ways we can gain wisdom - by asking God to teach us to number our days. This concept of time is very important, as it allows us to dedicate every day we are alive to God and see the value of every breath we take.

Before we can become meek, gentle and pure, and before we can value our time - what needs to happen? How do we have the right mindset before God? This verse says that in order to practice wisdom and thereby produce the fruits of wisdom, we must first have a healthy fear of God and do His commandments. No one is forced to fear and love God, no one is made to keep His commands - so the only way we can do these things if if we want to. 

Before I was saved, I thought I was a good person and felt I kept His commands. I didn’t feel the need to repent and surrender to Christ because I didn’t see how truly wicked I was. The Holy Spirit kept convicting me of my sin and one night I finally gave in. I broke down the walls I had put up around my heart. I confessed with my mouth that Jesus was Lord and believed in my heart that God had raised Him from the dead - I was saved. With my heart I believed unto righteousness and with my mouth, confession was made unto salvation. (Romans 10:9-10)

After this, I loved and feared God. I desired to keep His commands but knew that because I was a fallen, sinful human being, I never could do this. The point of telling us to keep His commands is not to see if we can, but for us to see that we can do nothing good apart from Him. It requires us to lean fully on Him and not on ourselves. It keeps us humble, meek and pliable. When we try to do what He tells us to do in our own strength, we fall and are needing to be under His grace and mercy.

This verse in Psalms tells us that having a fear of God is the start of having wisdom - wisdom is applying knowledge - and those who do His commandments have good understanding - understanding is knowledge. Do His commands - gain knowledge and understanding - then apply this understanding to life and fear the Lord - begin to gain wisdom. Godly wisdom is not something that comes overnight, it begins with the Lord and (hopefully) doesn’t stop until we’re dead.

My application is to ask the Lord for wisdom tomorrow morning during my daily prayer time.