The Farmville herald. (Farmville, Va.) 1957-current, 1961-04-07
Gods Answer
Lesson for April 8, 1861

hood and in second childhood,
something has to be decided
every day. We sometimes say
that the Bible has the answers,
or the Christ is THE Answer.
This is true for the great life
changing decisions. But there are
life shaping as well as chang
ing choices to be made. Wisdom
is needed for the everyday small
problems just as truly as for the
great once-in-a-lifetime crises.
Can the Bible help us here?
Dead End Roads
The highway department has
two kinds of signs. One is the
kind that says Louisville so
miles or Through Traffic Keep
Right" Such signs tell you ex-
actly what to do. or to expect.
The other kind of sign is the one
that reads Dead End Road" It
doesn't tell you much about the
road, or how far it is to any
where. 1t only tells you that if
you try that road you will not get
anywhere. Now the Bible puts up
signs of both kinds.
Take the question of wisdom.
for example. There are certain
books in the Old Testament call
ed Wisdom Literature, . because
they are crammed with direc-
tons on how to be wise. But a
great part OF the wisdom litera-
ture JOB, the Proverbs, Eclesi-
astes, some of the Psalms is not
so much concerned with How To
Be Wise, as it is with How Not
10 Be a Fool To put it another
way, the Wisdom Literature puts
up some Dead-End-Road signs
for those who wish to be wise.
One of these blind alleys is
Money and another is Nature
Our chapter in Job suggests
these. In a poem of moving
beauty, the author of Job speaks
OF how hard it is to find wisdom.
1t cannot be gotten for gold r.
that is. you can walk into a store
and buy anything in it if you We
money enough; but wisdom is
never to be seen with a price-tag
on 1t. 1t is also gently suggested
mere that nature does not have
the answers for man that man
needs. Doing what comes natur
ally is a sure way to get into
trouble.
Not in Rebellion
In every generation the same
foolish notion comes to life again,
the same notion that lin the
Genesis story occurred to the
first people in the world: that if
we want to be wise we must kick
over the traces. get out of the
harness so to speak, break the
rules, stop being Gods yes-men.
throw the Ten Commandments
INTO the bonfire and live by some
higher law. The roads of his
tory are haunted by ghosts of
such rebels. People who do this
land we all try it some time or
other really look to themselves
as the sufficient source Of Wis
dom. They may not admit this
but it's true.
| The Fear of the Lord
Fearing God. as the Bible uses
this expression. does not mean
being afraid of him. There is
small wisdom in terror. Fearing
God means reverencing him. The
fear OF the Lord is said many
times to be the beginning Of Wis
dom. that is to say Lesson l. the
foundation of everything else.
This does not mean that a God
tearing man, just because he
worships God, and honors him.
will thereby acquire all wisdom
Fearing God does not teach a
man how to ride a horse nor
mend a tractor nor cure cancer
nor to select school for his chill
dren. But the fear of the Lord is
the beginning Of wisdom. all the
same. This means first of all that
Gods will is always best and
that SO far as it is made known
to us. 1t is utterly foolish to paw
God no attention. The fear of the
Lord means, further, something
that saves us from fearing men.
We bow to something, or some
one. unless we are that most
foolish figure Of all, the self-ldo-
llzer. We bow to public opinion
or to what So-and-So thinks. or
what We think is required of us
to be respectable. We bow to the
idol called Everybody Does Ii.
as If a Gallup poll could find out
what Right is Ill any Situa ton
The fear of the Lord means that
We keep remembering. all our
days. that the last Judgment. and
the present Judgment. and tho
only Judgment that finally mat
ters. is God S, not mans.
BASED on outlines copyrighted
by the Division of Christian Edu-
cation, National Council Of the
Churches Of Christ in the U. S. A.
Released by Community Press
Service.