Psalm 111:10 – “More King Business”

As always, here’s my fairly literal translation of this verse:

¹⁰[The] beginning of wisdom [is] the fear of the LORD.

  Good understanding to the all of their doings.

  His praise [is] one standing forever.

Somewhat continuing my thoughts from the last post – As I look back over the entire Psalm, the over-riding point, it seems to me, is to acknowledge the Lord’s sovereign and good rule over all Creation. Especially in an ancient’s way of thinking, it’s no wonder the psalmist concludes with the statements of vv. 9 & 10, “Holy and fearsome is His name! The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom!” As discussed before, the ancients lived their lives under absolute despots and “fear” of those in authority was a significant and proper part of their lives. In the case of good kings, it could co-exist with love but even in love one could never lose sight of that king’s majesty. Even in love, he still held the power of life and death over you.

I guess what I’m trying to say is I think that is why I (we) struggle to really understand this concept of “the fear of the Lord.” We (Americans) just don’t live in a world where one fears those in authority. Add to that the fact that the NT seems more to emphasize God’s love and the whole “fear” thing becomes a somewhat vague or nebulous concept to us.

Even living in that ancient world, a good example of someone who had to learn the lesson taught here in Psalm 111 was Nebuchadnezzar. Even having been warned by Daniel, one day he stood atop his palace, surveyed the city of Babylon, and said to himself, “Is not this the great Babylon I have built … by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty?” (Dan 4:30). Immediately a voice from Heaven spoke, “Seven times will pass over you until you acknowledge that the Most High rules over the kingdoms of man” (4:32) and suddenly the “great” king was eating grass like a cow. Of course, he did come to his senses and was restored but then, interestingly, his grandson Belshazzar did not. When, many years later, the hand appeared writing on the wall, Daniel told him, “You, Belshazzar, have not humbled yourself, though you knew all this (what had happened to your grandfather) … You did not honor the God who holds in His hand your life and all your ways” (5:22,23). That night Cyrus the Mede conquered Babylon and executed Belshazzar.

“The Most High rules over the kingdoms of man.” “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom.”

It is easy to see the error of Nebuchadnezzar and his grandson, but can I see it in my own life? I’m certainly no great king but do I really acknowledge in my mundane everyday life that “the Most High rules over the kingdoms of man?” My “kingdom” may be small and seemingly insignificant but it is the world I live in. As I said earlier, I don’t think I’ve ever really understood this. In my mind, it’s been my world, my life, my work, my problems, and I need the Lord to step into my life and help me. It has never occurred to me before just how much it is true that this not my world, it is not my life. Even my assignments at work or the jobs I need to do around the house are not really my work. My “problems” are not even really my problems. This is God’s world, not mine. This life I live I only live because He has granted me this short window of time where I can be a part of what He, in fact, is doing.

I need to insert here that, at a point like this, typically American Christians start imagining some great “work” they need to run off and do “somewhere,” but I totally reject that mentality. As Paul told the Corinthians, “Let a man remain in the place of his calling.” I don’t need to run off “somewhere” to “serve the Lord.” In every epistle of the NT, God calls us to live our lives for Him right where we are. “Husbands love your wives.” “Children obey your parents.” “Whatever you do, do it heartily, as unto the Lord.” I fear this subtle error robs God’s people of ever really realizing exactly what I think we are all supposed to see in Psalm 111 – that “the Most High rules over the kingdoms of man” and therefore, in my life, in the mundane of my everyday existence, at my job, while I mow the grass, when I’m paying for my groceries – when I’m moving about in my “kingdom” I need to see it all as God’s world. I either serve Him in that world, or I simply do not serve Him at all.

But back to seeing it as God’s world. The big issue is not whether He will help me with my world. The big issue is whether I’m being a willing part of His. In His world, in the only real world, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. I still have trouble wrapping my mind around the “fear” motif but I can understand that all day, every day, I should be awed by His majesty, by all we’ve read in Psalm 111, that He rules over everything.

This is precisely why it says, “Good understanding to the all of their doings,” or, as smoothed out by the NIV, “All who follow His precepts have good understanding.” If reality is that this is His world, then it’s only going to make sense and “work” when I act accordingly. When I’m forgetting that fact, it is only logical that something isn’t going to “work.” Things won’t “fit” together. I’ll always be fighting the current. On the other hand, when I do get it figured out, when I stop saying, “Lord, help me with my world,” and start saying, “Lord, how do you want me to fit into Your world?” – then there is any hope I’ll really makes sense of anything.

Jesus’ words come to my mind: “My meat is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to finish it” (John 4:34).

I’m still figuring it all out. I’m still trying to understand how to think and act and pray differently in this new paradigm, with God at the center instead of me.

I don’t know if I’ll ever really be comfortable with the “fear of the Lord” being prominent in my mind. I don’t know if it is a NT thing but when I think of Him, it is first of all His love and grace and kindness that leave me utterly awed. But I think, having studied Psalm 111, the “fear” thing makes a lot more sense. Most of all, it does make sense to me that I have long needed this total paradigm shift.

God help me live out the rest of my days as Your days – whatever that means.

Thank you for Psalm 111. What an eye-opener! Now on to Psalm 112 which I believe will be about exactly what I’m currently wrestling with – how does a man live who believes Psalm 111? The Lord says, “I’m glad you asked. Keep reading. I’ve included Psalm 112 just for this purpose.”