“The fear of the LORD is the instruction of wisdom; and before honour is humility.” (Proverbs 15:33)
In the same way Paul tells us what love looks like in 1 Corinthians 13, Solomon describes the fear of the Lord in the book of Proverbs: “The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate.” (Prov. 8:13) God hates all evil, but pride tops the list as an abomination to God. “Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the LORD …” (Prov. 16:15)
There is an order that Solomon lays out in Proverbs for the gaining of wisdom: it must be preceded by the fear of the Lord. “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom …” (Prov. 9:10). We cannot have the “instruction of wisdom” in our life unless we are walking in the fear of the Lord. Likewise, humility precedes honor, even as pride goes before a fall. “Before destruction the heart of man is haughty, and before honour is humility.” (Prov. 18:12)
From generation to generation, these spiritual realities have never changed. God is no respecter of persons, but He is a respecter of states. “Though the LORD be high, yet hath he respect unto the lowly: but the proud he knoweth afar off.” (Psalm 138:6) God favors the humble: “He giveth grace unto the lowly” (Prov. 3:34); but disgraces the proud: “When pride cometh, then cometh shame” (Prov. 11:2). It is poetic justice that the proud get the exact opposite of the honor they crave. “A man’s pride shall bring him low: but honour shall uphold the humble in spirit.” (Prov. 29:23)
Jesus advised us what we should do in order to be honored. Take low. “But when thou art bidden, go and sit down in the lowest room; that when he that bade thee cometh, he may say unto thee, Friend, go up higher: then shalt thou have worship in the presence of them that sit at meat with thee. For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.” (Luke 14:10,11)
One wiser than Solomon reiterated the sure promises found in Proverbs to the proud and humble of His day and ours. He Himself, whom God has “highly exalted,” and given “a name which is above every name,” was meek and lowly of heart. To win favor and honor in heaven’s sight, He took the lowest place of all, becoming a nothing, a nobody in the eyes of men. Will we follow this wisest of all men? He who is Wisdom instructs us: the way up is down.