Fear of the LORD and Wisdom

Post ini merupakan response saya terhadap pertanyaan seseorang. Semoga menjadi berkat bagi anda juga.

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight." - Prov. 9:10

1. Apa artinya takut akan Tuhan?

Tim Keller memberi jawaban yang sangat baik; saya berhutang padanya. Ini yang ia katakan:

When we go to the Old Testament, where the term ‘the fear of the Lord’ is very common, we come upon some very puzzling usages. Often the fear of the Lord is linked with great joy. Proverbs 28:14 tells us that ‘Happy is the one who feareth always.’ How can someone who is constantly in fear be filled with happiness? Perhaps most surprising is Psalm 130:4, where the Psalmist says, ‘Forgiveness comes from you – therefore you are feared.’ Forgiveness and grace increase the fear of the Lord. Other passages tell us that we can be instructed and grow in the fear of the Lord (2 Chronicles 26:5; Psalm 34:11), that it is characterized by praise, wonder, and delight (Psalm 40:3; Isaiah 11:3). How can that be? One commentator on Psalm 130 puts it like this: “Servile fear [being scared] would have been diminished, not increased, by forgiveness…The true sense of the ‘fear of the Lord’ in the Old Testament [then]…implies relationship.”

Obviously, to be in the fear of the Lord is not to be scared of the Lord, even though the Hebrew word has overtones of respect and awe. ‘Fear’ in the Bible means to be overwhelmed, to be controlled by something. To fear the Lord is to be overwhelmed with wonder before the greatness of God and his love. It means that, because of his bright holiness and magnificent love, you find him ‘fearfully beautiful.’ That is why the more we experience God’s grace and forgiveness, the more we experience a trembling awe and wonder before the greatness of all that he is and has done for us. Fearing him means bowing before him out of amazement at his glory and beauty. Paul speaks of the love of Christ ‘constraining’ us (2 Corinthians 5:14). What is it that most motivates and moves you? Is it the desire for success? The pursuit of some achievement? The need to prove yourself to your parents? The need for respect from your peers? Are you largely driven by anger against someone or some people who have wronged you? Paul says that if any of these things is a greater controlling influence on you than the reality of God’s love for you, you will not be in a position to serve others unselfishly. Only out of the fear of the Lord Jesus will we be liberated to serve one another.

Berikutnya, penjelasan Keller diperkaya oleh penjelasan Bruce Waltke dalam The Book of Proverbs.

Fear of the LORD (yir’at YaHWeH) terdiri dari dua aspek:

1. Rasional
2. Non-rasional

1. Rasional

1.a. Mengacu pada hukum, perintah, ketetapan Allah sebagai standar moral perilaku manusia (virtues).

1.b. Mengacu pada special revelation.

2. Non-rasional

2.a. Mengacu pada respon emosional: fear, love, trust. (Bandingkan Ul. 5:29 dengan 6:2; Ul. 6:5 dengan Jo. 24:14; Ul. 10:12, 20; 13:5).

2.b. Fear of the Lord ditemukan melalui heartfelt prayer dan diligent seeking for Wisdom. (Ams. 2:1-5)

2.c. Ams. 15:33 humility dan fear of the Lord diparalelkan, malah dalam 22:4 humility didefinisikan sebagai padanan fear of the Lord.

Sebagai ilustrasi, dalam buku The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe buah karya C. S. Lewis, anak-anak masuk melalui the wardrobe ke sebuah dunia fantasi di mana kejadian-kejadian dan tokoh-tokoh dalam Narnia mewakili cerita Alkitab. Kristus diwakili oleh Aslan, singa besar. The beaver sebagai the guide. Ia yang memerkenalkan dunia Narnia pada anak-anak. Ketika ia menyebut Aslan, anak-anak penasaran, bertanya, ”Apakah ia jinak, aman bagi kita? The beaver menjawab, “Tentu saja tidak… Tetapi ia baik hati.”

C Bridges berkata, “The fear of the LORD is that affectionate reverence, by which the child of God bends himself humbly and carefully to his Father’s law.”

2. Mengapa fear of the LORD adalah permulaan hikmat?

The wise adalah seorang yang teachable. Mereka belajar dengan mula-mula submit/tunduk/takluk pada otoritas tertinggi, yaitu the LORD. Maka, fear of the LORD dalam Ams. 9:10 dijelaskan dengan knowledge (da’at), personal knowledge of the LORD / pengenalan personal akan TUHAN – perjumpaan dengan SANG KUDUS, the wholly other. Bandingkan dengan the fool yang mendasari pengetahuannya atas the pattern of the world, atau yang profane.

3. Apa yang dimaksud dengan knowledge disini, apakah hanya mengetahui kehendak Tuhan atau dalam arti yang lebih luas? Brian Walsh dalam Colossians Remixed mengatakan antara wisdom, understanding dan knowledge terdapat pengertian yang sama.

Alkitab memahami wisdom sebagai masterful understanding, skill, expertise (Kel. 28:3; 31:6). Maka dari itu, wisdom dan knowledge tak terpisahkan. Contoh: Seorang montir bisa begitu mahir memerbaiki mobil/motor tidak lain karena ia memiliki knowledge mengenai konstruksi mesin, ia menguasai logic of the machine. Tapi bukan hanya knowledge, dalam wisdom juga terdapat insight, prudence, cunning, discretion, learning, guidance, understanding, competence, resourcefulness.

Jadi, betul, knowledge di sini harus dilihat dalam arti lebih luas dari sekadar mengetahui isi Alkitab atau teologi, tetapi juga pengalaman, pengertian, penerapan kehendak Allah baik dalam kehidupan personal sehari-hari maupun dalam relasi dengan seluruh ciptaan Allah.

Mungkin reply saya harus ditutup dengan perkataan suhu Calvin yang saya pungut dari kawan Yuzo: “Omnis recta cognitio Dei ab obedientia nascitur / All true knowledge of God is born of obedience.