Pondering the "Fear of the Lord"

Great are the works of the Lord,

to be pondered by all who delight in them....

Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom;

understanding marks all who live by it.

Your praise endures forever! (Ps. 111:1-2, 5-10)

I think that if I were teaching a class in biblical literature today, or if someone came to me asking for instructions in prayer, I might simply give the following assignment:  Look up all the references to "Fear of the Lord" and write them down in a notebook.  For this expression, used so many times in the Bible, has nothing -- or very little--- to do with 'fear' and everything to do with reverence and pondering the works of the Lord, leading to worship, adoration, and bowing down before excellence.

Every single one of the Psalms is an exercise in "pondering the works of the Lord."  There is no other purpose in these ancient songs or hymns than to ponder the works of the Lord.  Unfortunately, the reason people today cannot relate to the Psalms is that we have lost the ability to "ponder" anything at all.  We attempt to "read" the Psalms, and thus we are bored and feel distant from them.  But the Psalms are not "reading" material -- they are hymns of praise, of thanksgiving, of pondering.

I am not a musician, to say the very least.  There is not a musical bone in my body.  I am tone deaf and often wonder what people are talking about when they say someone is "off key."  What is a "key?" I wonder, and how do you tell if someone is off-the-key?"  But this morning, when I awoke, I kept hearing Whitney Houston (I think) singing Aaaaaaat Laaaaaast.....

Even I, with no ear at all for music, can appreciate the absolute beauty of this song --- it slows down my thinking brain and my appetite for "reading further" to satisfy my curiosity for whatever comes next.  I just want to sit and ponder, relish, drink in the music, the sound, the exquisite beauty of the moment expressed in this song.  It makes me "ponder" and experience for myself the moment when "my love has come" -- that for which my whole being has cried out all my life, and for which I am now overwhelmed with gratitude and thanksgiving.  

No wonder the Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.  One who has discovered reverence, or appreciation of the beauty of divine presence, is not likely to easily let go or to treat lightly what he/she has found, any more than the subject of Whitney Houston's song will lightly dismiss the gift that has just been found.

Psalm 1 tells us, Blessed is the man...whose delight is in the law (instruction, teaching) of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night/ He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in due season and whose leaf does not wither.  Whatever he does prospers.

This opening psalm introduces us to the concept of "pondering the works of the Lord," which leads ultimately to the Fear of the Lord, or reverence for all his works.  Like great music, the psalms invite us to slow down, to forget reading for information, but just to sit and ponder, very much related to sitting under a tree and pondering the clouds.  Like music, the psalms cannot be rushed through; they must be absorbed under the skin, so to speak.  We must hear them, chew on them, relish them as fine wine or delicious desserts.  And when we are willing to do so, the result is praise and thanksgiving for what we see and hear.  The "fear of the Lord" takes root in us:  Aaaaaaat Laaaaaaast, my love has come......, and we bow down in worship.

It is interesting that Psalm 1 tells us the wicked are like chaff that the wind blows away.  They have not 'entered into' the law (teaching, instruction) of the Lord with reverence, and so they are not rooted and grounded, like a tree planted by streams of water.  As a result, they are easily blown away by 'every wind of teaching and doctrine," in the words of the New Testament.

Have we lost our capacity for reverence today?  Are we blown about by every facebook and youtube video so that we have become chaff?  Maybe a little fear of the Lord and reverence for the works of His hands is just what the doctor ordered for modern minds and hearts.