The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
Proverbs 9:10 (NIV)
Go outside and gaze upon the most magnificent thing your eyes can find; the thunder heads of a mighty storm, the towering heights of a city skyline, the granite peak of a mammoth mountain, the vastness of the open fields, and then imagine something so much more impressive that it’s magnitude dwarfs the beauty before you in such an alien and breath taking way that the very otherness and unique grandeur of the thing fills you with a deep shocking paralysis akin to trembling fear, like a stolen breath, the sudden appearance of a thing or person in a room you were not expecting, do this and your will begin to know the fear of God.
For this month’s prayer practice I invite you to find settings similar to one of those described above and repeat the following contemplation throughout the day:
In view of a something large or extensive
*Begin with a few moments of silence
You are more (Pause for reflection)
Even still (Breath in)
You are love (Pause for reflection)
I pray that as you imagine this being of such immense proportion and power that the weight of its magnitude sits for a moment upon your chest. Let it sink in. I also pray that you are able to marvel in the truth that this unimaginable power is Love itself, holding all things together. It is this largeness to which I believe the Bible speaks when it mentions the fear of God. But I also believe it is a fear which is dispelled and transformed into a sense of awe in light of God’s infinite love.
May you have the wisdom to receive what love requires and human frailty demands
Josh Love 