Wisdom Starts Here

Psalm 111

The closing verse of today's psalm makes a simple yet far reaching statement. After giving another litany of reasons for which God is to be praised, the writer assesses what he has just declared. And in its light, he concludes that the fear or reverence of this God is where wisdom has its beginning or foundation.

That conclusion is familiar to Christians and to Jewish believers as well; it recurs in several psalms, in the proverbs, and in Job's ode to wisdom. And it stands as a challenge to a segment of today's culture which fashions itself as the "Brights." This group consists of the so-called New Atheists, whose published works have multiplied significantly over the past decade. The name, of course, is a declaration that those who have the intelligence to grasp the truth of atheism and the hopelessness and desperation of belief in God are the bright ones of the world. By comparison, those of us who have celebrated the mighty acts of God, and the resurrection of Jesus in particular, are "dull" by virtue of that very belief.

Reading the works just mentioned does not offer evidence to support the claim of intellectual high ground, but that is not the point to be made here. Instead, let us think of the claim the psalmist is making, which is that we cannot make sense of morality, of history, or of the physical universe itself without starting with God. There is no glory or majesty in a cosmos which just happens to be; there is no point of recounting history, for what will be will be and nothing moves toward a conclusion or a vindication; the very terms of justice and righteousness--so central to the understanding of God as described in the last few days--are meaningless, not only in terms of God's actions, but of our own as well. It is not a case of wish fulfillment, except to the extent that God has made us to wish, or rather to hope, for the very things He has prepared.

How much better the world looks when seen from God's perspective; how much more meaningful our actions and our decisions become; and how much more hopeful we can be when we share the in psalmist's expectations that God will complete His works. If we agree, the only response appropriate to make is to praise God.