Is there anything better than the first cup of your favorite coffee in the morning? Unless, of course, you don’t like coffee. Some people enjoy a green smoothie with lots of protein, kale, and fruit. I used to cringe when my parents enjoyed their order of fried liver. And we laugh at the funny faces a baby makes when first tasting real food.

I remember trying coffee for the first time, thinking it tasted awful. Now, my first cup of coffee is a favorite moment in my day. I don’t just like a cup of coffee in the morning; I need a cup of coffee and will make every effort to get one. 

For me, learning to love God was a lot like learning to love coffee. Each “taste” increased my enjoyment until one morning I realized I was completely dependent on him for my day. I don’t just enjoy God’s presence in my life; I need him. The bad days are the days I don’t make every effort to be with him.

The psalmist wrote “Taste and see that the Lord is good.” God is good. I have had some bad cups of coffee, and I’ve had some bad days with God. Sadly, we don’t always taste the good things in this life. Some things are like that candy that starts out sweet and then quickly sours!

One day we are going to drink coffee on the patio of our mansions in heaven. That will be the best cup of coffee we have ever enjoyed. One day, we will meet the Lord face-to-face. We will walk with him and enjoy his presence. Until then, we only taste of the Lord’s goodness. Right now we consume God’s goodness in small bites. But there will be a banquet in heaven.

To know God is the beginning of wisdom. You will learn to know and love God more as you taste and see that he is good.

We shield our eyes from the glare of the sun. The windshield protects the people riding in the car. We have redefined the word shield in modern days, but in ancient times a shield was a soldier’s most important defensive weapon. Proverbs 30:5 tells us that God and his word will be our shield, our most important defense in the world today. The key is knowing we must first take refuge in him.

If there is a flash of light, we instantly raise our hands to cover our eyes. Most of us have been startled at some point by a rock that hits our windshield instead of hitting us. How often has God’s voice, his word, shielded you from making a wrong or harmful decision?

“Every word of God proves true” (Proverbs 30:5). We live in a generation that doesn’t always believe that. If something doesn’t feel true or seem true, then we might question God’s word instead of our feelings. It's crucial to understand that God’s word “proves” true and always has. Feelings and opinions change with the times, with maturity, and often because of sins and failures. God’s word offers proven truth and is the light by which we should examine every era of human history.

We need a shield today from the noisy confusion in our world. Opinions and words have become weapons flying around us. God’s proven word is our shield. Our choice is to take refuge in him.

We search for reviews before we buy. We listen to opinions before we vote. We study the internet before we commit to a surgery. Yet, we have all bought things believing they would be better than they turned out to be. We have all voted for people we believed in only to be disappointed with their actions. But God’s word has been the same proven truth throughout time.

Run to God before you run anywhere else. Trust God’s word before you believe someone else’s. Accept God’s standards before you adapt your own. Trust the Bible before you trust a friend. We have a shield, and we can take refuge in him.

To know God is the beginning of wisdom. To find our refuge in God’s word is to be shielded by his proven truth.

God is the only source of pure and complete forgiveness. Forgiveness is a rare and powerful gift from God. The key to receiving God’s forgiveness is found at the beginning of 1 John 1:9. The small word if can also be translated as when. Either way, the forgiveness of God is our gift that, like the gift of salvation, must be received.

God wants to forgive us and wants to rid our lives of everything that hinders our right relationship with him. In many ways, God’s forgiveness is the opposite of our own. We tend to forgive because we know we should. We often forgive with a sense of self-righteousness while God forgives because he wants us to become righteous.

That’s why God paves the road to forgiveness with the act of confession. When we confess our sins, we understand God’s goal in our lives. God doesn’t want us to simply get past our sins; he asks us to be finished with them. Confession comes from a place of deep remorse, or sorrow. Confession is grieving what has separated us from a right relationship with God. That is what Jesus meant when he said “blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted” (Matthew 5:4).

When God knows we have truly confessed our sins, he knows we are ready to receive his forgiveness and accept the changes in our lives that he wants to bring about. He wants us to live a life he is able to fill with his blessings. He wants us to live a life that is redeemed and cleansed from anything that harms our souls. 

To know God is the beginning of wisdom. Wisdom is knowing that God wants you to have his forgiveness and redemption in your life so that you can be made right with him and so that you can forgive others as you have been forgiven yourself.

The angel told Mary that she, a virgin, would have a son and he would be the holy Son of God. The angel also told Mary that her elderly and barren relative, Elizabeth, would have a son too. Neither of those babies should have been possible, but both babies were born just as the angel foretold.

Luke 1:37 is truth, but that truth can cause mixed feelings for most of us. On the one hand, we are overwhelmed with the knowledge of the greatness of our God. Nothing we ask or imagine is impossible for him. We can find great peace and comfort in his holy perfection. Except, sometimes his perfection doesn’t feel perfect or perfectly fair.

If God can do anything, then why doesn’t God do that thing we need him to do? Why do impossibly difficult things happen in our lives and in the lives of those we love? “Why then,” as Job, King David, the prophet Jeremiah, and most of us ask, “do the wicked prosper?” If all things are possible with God, then why do difficult and unfair things happen in the lives of his beloved children?

That question was difficult for our Bible heroes, and we should expect it to be difficult for us as well. One of the best lessons I ever learned was to give up my need to understand the ways of God. We shouldn't expect to understand God’s ways any more than a three-year-old should expect to solve complicated equations on a calculus exam. Nothing is impossible for God, but a lot of things are impossible for us.

I rarely pray to understand God’s will. I pray instead for the faith to trust and accept God’s will. 

Those prayers can be answered and his peace often follows. I know nothing is impossible for God, and he is never limited in any way. His plans can be trusted. His love for us is complete. Our eternal lives will be his design and are guaranteed by his promise. I will never fully understand the greatness of God, but I know him as the God who makes all things possible.

To know God is the beginning of wisdom. You can know and experience God’s power even when you can’t fully comprehend it because he is the God who makes all things possible.

People have always created gods, but only one God created people. Every generation has fashioned gods they wanted, but only one God should be wanted. There is no one holy like the Lord. There is no other god that compares. And the only God we need is the One who is able to be our rock, our solid and safe place of truth, where we can stand.

The gods people create only have the power they are given. Only the holy God has power to give. We give many things the power to influence our choices, but only God is the rock who can author our choices. The rock is our confidence that whatever choice God directs is for our good and the good of others. Our only strong, perfect influence is the Lord. He has the power to save, and his power is a blessing to those who receive it.

The gods people create are temporary and change from one generation to the next. Sometimes they are given names, but most often they are simply given human interest and affection. The holy God gave himself the name “I Am.” He is the only God, the God of the ages.

It's good to examine our lives and consider our power to create gods. What or who has had greater influence in your life than the holy God? On which “rocks” do you choose to stand? People have always created gods, and that is often true for God’s people too. Thankfully, God is patient with our sin, waiting for us to recognize his authority in our lives.

There have always been many gods in our world. There has only been one holy God who created the world. How firmly do you stand on his truth as your safe place, your rock? People create gods and assign them power and influence. God creates people and gives them the ability to choose his power and influence. The created only have one Creator. He is the great “I Am,” the only God, and the Rock where we can stand.

To know God is the beginning of wisdom. To know there is only one God is wisdom.

People of every generation have placed their faith in God. Even the least faithful generation in history had a man named Noah. Faith in God extends back to the days when Adam and Eve walked with him in the Garden of Eden. Our God is the God of the ages, and there have always been people who knew him and worshiped him as God.

Why then are there still people who don’t believe in God? He has kept his word, his covenant, with every generation in history, but he isn’t able to keep it with every person. A close look at Deuteronomy 7:9 reveals that God keeps his covenant and steadfast love “with those who love him and keep his commandments.”

The best way to know and love God is to obey his word. Jesus said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (John 14:15). We learn to love the Lord by walking in obedience to his direction. We experience his thoughts, his voice, and his holy presence in our lives through his Spirit.

We know that the Lord our God is God when we experience his transforming power in our lives. It's the same power Moses experienced when God parted the Red Sea. It's the same power King David knew when he faced his enemies. It's the peace and comfort Paul experienced when he was imprisoned in Rome. It's the same love and presence John experienced on the island of Patmos. We know that the Lord our God is God in the same ways the faithful people of every generation have believed.

God has always kept his covenant, and his love has always been steadfast in the lives of those who keep his commandments. When you adjust your choices to obey God’s word, you experience his favor and presence in your life. That has been true for every generation—and always will be.

To know God is the beginning of wisdom. You can know God by living in obedience to his word.

It would be hard to trust a financial adviser if you thought that person didn’t really like you. It would be difficult to take advice from someone you believed would do you harm. We expect a few people might make our lives difficult at times, but it’s hard on our faith when God allows us to suffer. One of the tallest hurdles we face with God is learning to trust him when our circumstances don’t feel like the results of his promised favor and blessing.

God told the prophet Jeremiah that even when circumstances become difficult, God’s children could continue to trust their future to God. Jeremiah wrote to the captives of Israel, many of whom were faithful followers of God. The faithful Israelites were taken captive alongside the unfaithful. 

Consider the story of Daniel and his friends. The faithful hadn’t led perfect lives, but they didn’t deserve their enslavement. Their feelings of disappointment toward God would have been understandable. God told Jeremiah to teach them to trust God’s plan for the future despite their personal suffering in the present.

God said, “Trust the plans I have for you. My plan is to prosper you with hope for the future.”

The nation of Israel was held captive for seventy years. Many of the captives never saw their hopes fulfilled, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t have hope for their future and for their future generations.

We seek advisors whom we trust will have our best interests in mind. We hope their advice will pay off quickly, but sometimes our investment is meant to be a blessing for others. Good advice should prosper other people too, and God’s advice always does. God’s plan encompasses much more than our present circumstances.

We trust God because we are his children. He has promised to give us “hope and a future” with him in heaven. Even the most difficult circumstances of our earthly lives can work for the good of our welfare and our eternal future. When we are God’s children, we always have future hope. That is our promise from God.

To know God is the beginning of wisdom. Trusting God is the hope and assurance that our future is secured by his perfect plan.

All of us have made decisions we are proud of and others we regret. Sometimes even our best efforts fall short. One of the best lessons I ever learned about the nature of God was a study of his perfection. God’s perfection renders him incapable of error. He can’t make a mistake (although sloths, spiders, and slithery things might cause a few doubts).

The psalmist wrote that all of God’s work is done in faithfulness. God is always faithfully working in our lives according to his upright, perfect word. We often hear about our need to be faithful to God’s word. How comforting to realize that God is faithful to work according to his word as well!

We can know what God is doing because we can know what God has done. We can know what God wants for our lives because God’s word reveals his will. We can know the high standards God wants for his children because he has made those standards clear. And we can know and trust his grace because story upon story illustrates his character that always leads him to redeem.

When there are decisions that need to be made, we can trust his word is “upright” and true. Even more, we can trust that God is purely and perfectly holy, incapable of ever being anything less. And God has promised to work faithfully in our lives as we yield our free will to his perfect will.

Maybe our greatest gift is that our imperfect decisions can be “remade” by God’s redemption. He makes all things good in his time. The same God who created the world is at work in our lives, creating all we need to live out his plan for our lives. Our will might stand against his for a time, but his redemption will return us to his Plan A or lead us to his redemptive Plan B. Either way, we prosper!

To know God is the beginning of wisdom. You can know God is faithfully working to guide, prosper, and redeem your life according to his perfect plan.

The Apostle John is referred to as the “beloved” disciple. In many ways, he was the follower of Christ who most understood what it meant to love the Lord. One of the best pictures of John’s love for the Lord is seen at the foot of the cross. John was the only disciple with Christ that day. John is also the disciple Jesus chose to visit with the prophetic words of Revelation. John loved Jesus even while imprisoned on the island of Patmos. John knew, even then, that he was loved by his Lord.

We don’t use the word abide in our daily conversations very often. The word is a verb and means to accept or act in accordance with someone or something. The Apostle John, the beloved disciple, wrote that when we abide in God’s love, we abide with God and he abides with us. John understood what it meant to abide with Jesus, even in the worst of times.

How do we abide with God? We know and believe in the love God has for us. We recognize that the God of the universe adores his children. Christians are loved with a powerful, unending love.

We can draw near to God by knowing and trusting his great love for us. We can know God’s voice by understanding that God desires to speak with us. We can experience God’s love by abiding in his presence. God is love, so everyone who knows God can know his love.

So then, why do we sometimes not sense his love in our lives? The key is in the definition of the word abide. To abide with God is to choose to accept or act in accordance with God. When we don’t act with God’s love, we are choosing not to abide with God. No wonder our prayers can feel like they’re bouncing back at times! We shouldn’t be surprised by our dark thoughts, feelings, and attitudes if we have stopped abiding in the One who is light.

When you feel distant from God, rush to abide in his love and you will rush into God’s presence. Be confident in the belief that you are loved by God and you can be filled with his love for others. 

God is love. John knew that at the foot of the cross and on the island of Patmos. If you want to abide more closely with God, choose to abide in his love whatever your circumstances. God gives his love to you so you can then provide it to others. Abide in God so that he will abide in you. That’s how we come to know and believe in our loving God.

To know God is the beginning of wisdom. To know God is to want to abide in his love.

Every human being experiences God through his creation. Paul said that no one has an excuse to walk through life ignoring the fact that there is a higher power at work in our world. Nature reveals the infinite greatness of God. Human nature is a consistent revelation that all people have limits. Everything created has a Creator.

The most convinced atheist has seen God’s eternal power and divine nature. The most educated scientist understands how much is still not understood. The most remote cultures and people groups have perceived the power of God. The created world reveals the Creator. Everyone will stand before God someday, without excuse.

The world around us exists to remind us of God’s creative genius and infinite power. The quiet serenity of an open field blanketed with fresh snow. The soft breathing of a sleeping infant. The brilliant colors of a sunrise or sunset. The thunderous sound of a river or waterfall after a huge storm. The unceasing roll of waves onto a shore. The night sky filled with unreachable stars and planets.

What in nature causes you to pause and think about the infinite greatness of God? Now, consider this: most of God’s attributes are invisible. Creation is just a glimpse of God’s eternal power and divine nature. 

Scripture teaches that everyone has glimpsed God. Even a person who is blind has experienced the winds and the scents found in nature. A person who is deaf has viewed the miraculous colors in creation. We are moved by the powerful combination of sounds and rhythms that form our favorite music. How many senses has God given that enable us to know and experience his greatness?

Everyone has seen the Creator through his creation. No one has an excuse for unbelief.

Knowing God is the beginning of wisdom. You can know that God gives everyone the ability and opportunity to know they have a divine, powerful Creator.