Proverbs 3:1-4 - Homilies By W. Clarkson

Cherishing the truth

We have here—

I. THE ESSENTIAL THING IMPLIED . It is implied that the Law of God has been heard and understood; also that it has been received as Divine, and taken as the true guide of life. The teacher or preacher has sometimes to assume this; but too often it is an assumption unjustified by the facts. When it is justified, there come—

II. TWO SPECIALLY VALUABLE VIRTUES INSISTED UPON . Mercy and truth ( Proverbs 3:3 ) are to be exemplified.

1 . Mercy, which includes

2 . Truth, which includes

III. A MATTER OF GREAT MOMENT ENFORCED . This is the cherishing of the truth by the spirit which has received it in the love of it. "My son, forget not my law; … let thine heart keep," etc. ( Proverbs 3:1 ); Bind them about thy neck; write them upon the tablet of thine heart" ( Proverbs 3:3 ). If these precepts are to he duly carried out, and there is thus to be a continuance in well doing, and even a growth therein, then must there be:

1 . The dwelling upon them by the mind; that must be a mental habit carefully cultivated.

2 . The placing ourselves where they will be urged on our attention and commended to our affection (the sanctuary, the Lord's table, the society of the holy, etc.).

3 . The wise study of them as illustrated in the lives of the worthiest of our race.

4 . The use of any and every means by which they will be seen by us to be the beautiful and blessed things they are. The children of Wisdom will not only receive gladly the truth of God, but they will cherish it carefully; they will water with diligent hand the plant which has been sown and which has sprung up in the soul. "Let not the workman lose what he has wrought." If we continue in the word of Christ, then are we his disciples indeed (see John 8:31 ; John 15:9 ; Acts 13:43 ).

IV. A LARGE BLESSING PROMISED . ( Proverbs 3:2 , Proverbs 3:4 .) Under the Law, temporal blessings were more abundantly held in view; then the wise were promised long life, comfort, and human estimation, as well as the favour of God. Under the gospel, temporal prosperity takes the second place, spiritual and heavenly well being the first. But we may urge that conformity to the will of God as revealed in his Word:

1 . Tends to bodily health and strength; if that does not secure it, assuredly disobedience will not.

2 . Tends to secure a life of tranquillity. "Peace," as well as "length of days," it is likely to add; equanimity of mind and the comfort which is the consequence of right and kind behaviour.

3 . Tends to win the esteem and the affection of our neighbours. "Favour in the sight of man."

4 . Ensures the love and the blessing of Almighty God.—C.

Proverbs 3:5 , Proverbs 3:6 , Proverbs 3:7 (first part)

Self-distrust and trust in God

If we would realize God's thought concerning us, we shall—

I. CHERISH A DEEP DISTRUST OF OURSELVES . We are not to "lean unto our own understanding," or to "be wise in our own eyes" ( Proverbs 3:5 , Proverbs 3:7 ).

1 . We shall certainly have a sense of our own insufficiency if we weigh our own human weakness ; if we consider how little we know of

2 . So also if we consider the disastrous results that have followed presumption in this matter. How often have we seen men, confident of their own capacity, staking everything on their own judgment, and miserably disappointed with the issue! Men of this spirit, who carry self-reliance (which is a virtue) to an exaggerated and false assurance of their own sagacity, not only dig a deep grave for their own happiness, but usually involve others also in their ruin. Neither in

II. LOOK DEVOUTLY UPWARD . We are to maintain:

1 . A whole-hearted trust in God ( Proverbs 3:5 ). A profound assurance that

2 . A continual acknowledgment ( Proverbs 3:6 ). We are to acknowledge God

This trust and acknowledgment are inclusive and not exclusive of our own individual endeavour. We are to think well, to consult wisely, to act diligently, and then to trust wholly. Whoso does the last without the first is guiltily and daringly presumptuous; whoso does the first without the last is guiltily irreverent and unbelieving.

III. RECKON CONFIDENTLY ON DIVINE DIRECTION . "He shall direct thy paths" ( Proverbs 3:6 ). As a very little child, left alone in the streets of a great city, can but wander aimlessly about, and will surely fail of reaching home, so we, lost in the maze of this seething, struggling, incomprehensible world—world of circumstance and world of thought—can but make vain guesses as to our true course, and are certain to wander far from the home of God. What the shrewdest and cleverest of men most urgently and sorely need is the guiding hand of a heavenly Father, who, through all the labyrinths of life, past all the by paths of error and evil, will conduct us to truth, righteousness, wisdom, heaven. If we trust him wholly, and acknowledge him freely and fully, we may confidently expect that he will