VANITY

Ecclesiastes 12:8-14 ESV
“Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher; all is vanity. Besides being wise, the Preacher also taught the people knowledge, weighing and studying and arranging many proverbs with great care. The Preacher sought to find words of delight, and uprightly he wrote words of truth. The words of the wise are like goads, and like nails firmly fixed are the collected sayings; they are given by one Shepherd. My son, beware of anything beyond these. Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh. The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.” Our intimacy with God is more important than our ability to communicate that intimacy. For example, we do not have any accounts of Enoch and his ability as a great orator deliberating his secrets of how he walked with God. The account we have is he did walk with God; so deeply, his walk has become a standard for us all.
The fact he did teaches us more than he could have ever expressed with words or instructions. The fear of God is not us pursuing God it is God pursuing us; more specifically, the fear of God is our reaction to Him and His pursuit of us. This is how obedience is involved.
Being intimate enough with God that He would instruct us to do something is a greater achievement than knowing what to tell others in what they should do. Lord, Lord Have we not cast out devils in thy name, and have done many wonderful works in thy name. Depart from me; your work has been that of iniquity. I never knew you.
To Fear God is not as much about us knowing Him as it is Him knowing us. “But if any man love God, the same is known of him” (1 Corinthians 8:3).