Praise the Lord! As we enter into an all new week in life, let us be thankful and grateful to the Lord our God who helped us so far in life in this restless world. As of today [05/31/2026], we have remarkably come to the very last day of this month. At this moment, we can be assured of at least one thing in life that the Lord has been good to us so far (1 Samuel 7:12), and let us be thankful to Him for His faithfulness and loving kindness in our life, as it is mentioned in the Psalms: For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations (Psalm 100:5).

The Lord has blessed us with an instructive and thought evoking Scripture passage for our SftW meditation this week that is taken from the book of Proverbs, which states: The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding (Proverbs 9:10). This passage specifically talks about the importance of obtaining godly wisdom in life. The primary criterion to obtain godly wisdom in one’s life [according to Proverbs 9:10; and several other similar passages like Deuteronomy 10:12-13; Job 28:28; Psalm 34:9; 111:10; Proverbs 1:7; 2:5-6; 14:27; Ecclesiastes 12:3] is to fear the Lord. Here, the phrase ‘fear of the Lord’ does not mean the kind of fear that we think of [like frightened by God or terrified of God] rather it simply means having heartfelt reverence and respect and admiration and awe for God’s presence and power and authority as God is the Creator, Sustainer, the Life-Giver, Redeemer/Savior, the source of true love, King of kings and Lord of lords who judges the world without any bias, and so on. For most of us fear means terror or dread of someone or something. We fear anything that challenges us or anything that is more powerful than us. We fear anything that can harm us or a situation that endangers us. We fear anything that is unknown to us and we fear anything that we are unsure about. Also, we fear anything that is beyond our reach or we do not have a clear idea of it. And, the count of fear-factors in our life continue to grow as days pass by.

The key focus of our this week’s Scripture meditation is centered on wisdom and understanding and let us have a closer look at these terms. The first part of the Scripture passage says: The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Proverbs 9:10a; also refer to 1:7; 14:26,27; Psalm 111:10). The term wisdom does not focus on having intellectual capabilities alone but a combination of knowledge, understanding, experience, intelligence, discernment, reasoning ability, and so on, and practically applying all these factors into our everyday activities and leading a life-style that is integrated with high moral and spiritual integrity. James the brother of Jesus challenged his readers, saying: Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom (James 3:13). James also stated that if anyone lacks wisdom, let them ask the Lord God who gives generously to all without finding fault, as it is mentioned: If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you (James 1:5). Daniel, a preeminent figure among the Jewish wisemen (Daniel 2:48; 4:9; 5:11, 29) and prophets (Ezekiel 14:14; Daniel 1:17; 2:19; 6:3; Matthew 24:15), who served in the administration of king Nebuchadnezzar (and a few other rulers after him) as a statesman and head of the wisemen of Babylon noted that God is the One who gives wisdom: … He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning (Daniel 2:21). Solomon, one of the most renowned and wisest king in Israel, urged his readers to get wisdom more than anything else in the world, as it is mentioned: Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding (Proverbs 4:7) and he continued his teachings, saying: Choose my instruction instead of silver, knowledge rather than choice gold, for wisdom is more precious than rubies, and nothing you desire can compare with her (Proverbs 8:10-11). Ultimately acquiring wisdom is more precious and profitable than acquiring gold or silver or any worldly inheritance or anything as such and God is willing to give such wisdom to anyone who asks of Him with a heartfelt reverence and respect and awe for Him.

There are observable differences between the wisdom one obtains from the world and the wisdom one receives from above. James notes the downside of the wisdom one obtains saying: If you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice (James 3:14-16). The wisdom that God gives is not the kind of wisdom the world gives [that is mostly selfish and self-centered and corrupted] – it is very peculiar and distinctive, as James stated: The wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere … (James 3:17). Thus, the characteristics of wisdom that are mentioned in James 3:17 [that include purity, peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincerity] would define what godly wisdom really means. As a faithful follower of Christ, you and I are called to exercise such qualities in and through our everyday life.

The second part of the passage highlights the fact that knowledge of the Holy One is understanding (Proverbs 9:10b). In order to understand who God is one needs to know God, in order to know who God is, one needs to have insight about God, in order to have insight about God one needs to have the gift of discernment, in order to have the gift of discernment one needs to know God and receive from Him. Ultimately, knowing God is the source of achieving everything else. The question here for the so-called followers of Christ is whether we really know God or are at least trying to know how and where and when and what and why and who He is? If not, let us set the primary goal of our life to know who God really is because knowing God is as important as obtaining wisdom from God and without knowing God it is impossible to obtain wisdom from Him. In fact, knowing God is the first-step in gaining wisdom from God. If we know that we are lacking godly wisdom, let us ask God for the ability to draw closer to Him and ask Him to bestow on us His wisdom, which would enable us to love Him and honor Him and know Him and understand Him and fear Him. Let us conclude our this week’s SftW meditation with the words God spoke through prophet Jeremiah: This is what the Lord says: “Let not the wise boast of their wisdom or the strong boast of their strength or the rich boast of their riches, but let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,” declares the Lord (Jeremiah 9:23-24). May the Lord God Almighty bless us all! Amen!