Category: Devotions

Here two great evils, poverty and shame are now set before us. The first brings want, the second means having to hang our heads. There is a type of poverty born of necessity that is no cause for shame. There is a poverty from sacrificial giving that is a virtue. The poverty referred to here has its roots in stubborn pride that results from refusing criticism. Honest criticism may be a bitter pill to swallow, and most tonics are unpleasant, but we are usually the better for taking them.

What are we to make of the fact that many entrusted messengers no longer tremble at God’s Word, but mock and deny it openly? They have, as someone put it, transmuted God’s Word into theological bubble-gum! R. A. Torrey once remarked: “Loose theology leads to loose morality.” We could phrase it: “Lost theology leads to lost morality!”

How much knowledge Christians frivolously cast aside! Do not members of deadly cults and Christ-denying religions often put us to shame by their eagerness to spread their pernicious beliefs? Are we prudently handling the precious Word of God for the building up of Christ’s Kingdom? Let us not be like this fool whose folly appears for all to see and mock. Are we seizing the opportunities for using and spreading this knowledge? Are we the ambassadors for Christ we ought to be?

Transgressors, as we have noted before, are Jews who literally take the shirt off the backs of their fellow Jews (Ex. 22:26; Deut. 24:10-13). Hence, in the eyes of God, they are wicked, treacherous deceivers. They are traitors, who for greed, would sell the needy for a pair of shoes (Amos 8:4). These are heartless exploiters of their poorer brethren. They fall into that despised category of publicans (tax-collectors), but for all their money-grubbing, their way is hard. It is hard in the sense of an awful permanence. It describes the rolling down of the waters as a mighty stream (Amos 5:24). It never ceases. It is also a harsh and forbidding way, like a rough valley (Deut. 21:4), suggesting the hardened behaviour of the wicked. We are to understand that transgressor is but another name for sinner. In other words, the way of the transgressor is:

Good understanding gives favour. Understanding here means good sense, good success, insight, or discretion. It applies to those who act prudently, and always behave in a manner pleasing to God. Greatness is the fairest object to the eye of the world; goodness, to the eye of heaven. It also follows that graciousness is better than greatness, and more than goodness, for have we not all more knowledge of goodness than we ever use!

1. The Right Way Abused: Time was when converted people knew they must part with the world and live separated lives. One could identify born-again people by their transformed life. Everyone associated with these converts knew that a radical change had taken place (1 Pet. 4:4). Sadly, this led to some negativism and legalism. The emphasis seemed to be on what not to do. Those who did not follow their rules were scorned. Their assembly was the only one that was true to the Word. This led to a tendency to major on externals and to turn a blind eye on glaring hypocrisy. As with the Pharisees of old, unbelievers took delight in pointing out the inconsistencies they detected (Matt. 23:27).

In the previous verse the great word commandment confronted us. In this verse there is the word Law, the Torah. Both words remind us of Moses and Sinai. Ours is a lawless society, where “doing your own thing” is the standard for many, but we ignore law at our peril. David Thomas defines Law as “rule in motion. The material universe is in motion, and there is the law that regulates it. The spiritual universe is in motion, and law presides over it.” The law of the wise is the law that rules them, the law that “has her seat in the bosom of God” (Hooker).

2. The Rewarded: He that feareth the commandment shall be rewarded. The commandment reminds us of God’s authoritative word. The heart of man is right only when it fears the commandment of God above everything else. This fear brings no bondage, for it is no mere legalism. Reverent fear of God is the only path to freedom from every other fear. To deny that Word brings ruin, but, in keeping of it there is great reward (Ps. 19:9-11). Apathy or delay here is a deadly foe, for any time means no time.

There are words everywhere, some good, some bad, some profound, some simple. Words are a mirror of the soul. They act as weapons for healing or hurting, for bearing truth or fiction. The authority of words depends ultimately on the speaker. No one, therefore, should doubt the absolute authority of words spoken by God, and recorded infallibly in Holy Scripture. The word and commandment in our text show that Proverbs presupposes revealed religion. These words take us back to Moses and Sinai. They are obviously references to the Word of God even when mediated through human channels. People and nations will face judgment by how they receive or reject this Word. Do you trifle or tremble at God’s Word?

Hope is an eager, waiting desire, implying future good, and possibility of obtainment. Hope fulfilled is beautiful, but unsatisfied means bitterness and loss.