F is for FEAR (of the Lord) and F is for FOOL

This is the first time both of my chosen letter words appear in the same verse! And there they are perfectly juxtaposed concepts. Too bad they might both be considered "trigger" words in today's culture.

The FEAR OF THE LORD phrasing is often scoffed at by those who wish to resist God's influence in their daily lives.

"See?" they say. "What kind of a good god would want us to FEAR him?" They have entirely forgotten that as teenagers in trouble they absolutely "feared" their good loving parents because they knew their parents cared enough to impose necessary discipline on them. That they even felt sorry (at least internally) for the kids whose parents didn't care enough to come down on them, because they could see that those kids were going to end up either in jail or dead.
And they forget that as those same kids had kids of their own, they set out determined to be sure their own charges would respectfully FEAR them as well.  Failing to foster such a FEAR directly leads to so much societal trauma today.
Please give the phrase FEAR OF THE LORD, the benefit of the doubt. God does not want us to feel terrorized by Him, as the Devil might (once he has beguiled us with loving lies, and we are under his malignant thumb).  But He does want us to respect his authority and stature (as, you know, the Creator of the Universe and everything in it) and listen to His instruction, and that, just for our own good!

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge,
but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Proverbs 1:7

Calling someone a FOOL is also questionable today, so I won't do it. But God can. The book of Proverbs is full of verses that compare those who seek WISDOM with those who do not.  The latter group are labeled FOOLS, by God.
One might rephrase this verse to say that "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but the denying of God's authority is the beginning of FOOLishness. 

You've been here before but can not figure out how you keep coming back to the same fork in the road: Once again you must decide if you will humble yourself just enough to acknowledge that you are not God, and that He is, or...claim with hubris and high self esteem that you really are "all that" and have no need of God's love, mercy, forgiveness, provision, direction or WISDOM.
Choose Him and discover the joy, or choose yourself and, for as long as you do live, expect Him to keep bringing you back to that fork for another chance to make the right choice.

"Thank you Father, for loving us so much that you do not coerce us to choose you, even though you know there is no other viable option. But by your grace you continually stand and wait for us to come home to you, where we will find every good thing we can ever want or need."

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