"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom..."  (Proverbs 9:10)

Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made.  He said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden?'...God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."  When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it.  (Genesis 3:1-7)

Such a familiar story, that cataclysmic event in the Garden.  The Lord God had made all kinds of trees to grow out of the ground.  They were all good for food; they were all pleasing to the eye.  but I'm struck by the phrase that Eve saw the fruit on this one forbidden tree as "desirable for gaining wisdom", so she ate.

Wisdom...The fear of the Lord is its beginning, the writer of Proverbs tells us.

We often think the fear of the Lord is something that makes us draw back, cringe in terror.  That is true for enemies of God.  For us as believers, however, it is more often a reverence and awe for Him.  It is a positive thing.  It is an invitation to draw near in intimacy, with the spine-tingling awareness that we belong to the Creator of the Universe who calls us to come close.  It should capture us, take our breath away, causing praise to the Holy One.

We don't know how long Adam and Eve were in the Garden.  We do know it was long enough for Adam to name all the animals, to work the ground and care for it.  And to be in the very presence of the One who created it all.  The beauty of the Garden before the Fall.  The intimacy of walking with the Lord in the cool of the day.  Everything that should have inspired awe in them.  Everything that should have inspired the "fear of the Lord."

I wonder...

Did Eve - amidst all the treasures and beauty of the Garden, in the very presence of our God - become so familiar with Him and His goodness that she lost her sense of awe?  Her fear of the Lord?  Had she grown so familiar with God and all His goodness and provision that she was no longer amazed?  No longer enchanted?  Did the glory of God grow dim to her because of familiarity?  Did she just "presume" He would always be there, always provide?  And so taking the one thing He had forbidden was somehow o.k?  Somehow not that bad?

"When she saw that the fruit of the tree was...desirable for gaining wisdom...she ate."

Did she not know that the fear of the Lord, the awe, reverence and respect that produces a desire to obey, would provide the wisdom she so dearly craved?

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom."

So it is with me.  I am Eve.  I have found myself taking the Lord and my relationship with Him for granted; presuming on His goodness and grace.  I find lately that my study of the scriptures can be academic and dry, purely intellectual.  I realize that I, like Eve perhaps, can become so overly-familiar with the Lord that the sense of awe is lost.  May it never be so!

This year my one word is "Behold!"  It is a word often (unfortunately) translated as "See" in our English translations.  It is a word used many times in the Hebrew scriptures and it means so much more than "see".  It means to fix my eyes upon, see with attention, observe with care.  It means to remember before Whom I stand.  

Oh Lord, may I more intentionally behold You this coming year, treat my relationship with You with great attention and care, fix my eyes upon You more fully.  May I never again become so familiar in my relationship with You, that I miss Your glory, that I miss the sense of great awe that You - Holy God - have called me to come have a relationship with you.