By Jamere King

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Proverbs 9:10

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

Everything in life has some form of beginning. For example, every year each of us celebrates the date that God brought us into this world. Before attending or watching a sporting event, you must know what time it begins otherwise you will miss the event. And every year, school districts create a calendar to inform parents and teachers of key dates throughout the year with one of those being when school begins.

As we engage today’s scripture, we notice that even wisdom has a beginning. It doesn’t begin with our level of education, how financially literate we claim to be, or even networking and knowing the right people—it begins with the fear of God!

Inevitably the next question is “what is the fear of God?” To keep things relatively simple, it simply means to have a deep rooted respect of God that involves living in accordance to God’s will. Similar to a child-parent relationship, the fear of God has less to do with terror and more to do with submission. So ask yourself right now: Am I fully submitted to the will of God?

It is this complete submission of knowing God through His word, community, and prayer where God begins to impart divine wisdom into our daily living.

Things that otherwise wouldn’t make sense, begin to become clearer and clearer. Decisions that seemed to be difficult to navigate all of sudden have doors that are opened that come with peace and clarity. These things don’t happen because we’re so smart; these are simply direct results for when the wisdom of God is sought after. The question is: Whose wisdom are you seeking? Yours or Gods?

Maybe you’re wondering “How can I tap into this type of wisdom?” I’m glad you asked, the answer is simple—Jesus.

God has united you with Christ Jesus. For our benefit God made him to be wisdom itself.

– 1 Corinthians 1:30 (NLT)

We can have all the right connections, we can have hundreds of thousands of dollars in the bank, and we can even have multiple diplomas tattooed after our names. However, possessing all of that without first knowing Jesus, is as Solomon says “like chasing after the wind”—because all knowledge and wisdom begins with the One who is wisdom Himself.

So as you finish reading this devotional and return back to whatever you were doing, keep wisdom (Jesus) close to you. When you encounter difficulties today, lean on wisdom (Jesus) for understanding. And within every meeting, personal encounter, phone call, etc. ask yourself what would wisdom (Jesus) do? How would wisdom (Jesus) respond?

If you don’t know Wisdom, my challenge to you is to read one of the Gospels to learn how Wisdom can be personified within a person.