Proverbs 19:3 - Homiletics

Fretting against the Lord

This is a condition of inward rebellion, or at best of grieving over the will of God instead of submitting to it in silence if it is not yet within our power to embrace it with affection. Consider this condition in its various relations.

I. IT IS POSSIBLE . It might be supposed that, however one fretted against his circumstances, he would not carry his complainings hack to God. But Moses told the Israelites that when they murmured against him they were really murmuring against God ( Exodus 16:8 ). If we resist God's ordinances we resist God himself. He who fires on the meanest sentry is really making war on that sentry's sovereign. We may not intend to act the proud part of Milton's Satan, and wage war against Heaven. Overt blasphemy and rank rebellion may be far from our thoughts. Yet complaints of our lot and resistance to Providence have the same essential character. We may even try to confine our rebellious thoughts to our own breasts, and simply fret inwardly. But to God, who reads hearts and dwells within, this is real opposition.

II. IT SPRINGS FROM VARIOUS SOURCES .

1 . Trouble. It is easy for Dives to talk of submission to Providence; the difficulty is with Lazarus. Job in prosperity offers glad sacrifices without constraint: will Job in adversity "curse God and die"?

2 . self-will. We naturally desire to follow the way of our own choice, and when that is crossed by God's will we are tempted to fret, as the stream frets itself against an obstruction, though it may have been flowing silently and placidly so long as it had a free course. It is just this crossing, of wills that is the test of obedience, which is easy so long as we are required only to follow the path of our own inclinations. But that cannot be always allowed.

3 . Sin. Direct sinfulness resists God's will of set purpose, just because it is his will. The evil heart will fret against God in all things.

III. IT IS FOOLISH . "The foolishness of man" is at the root of this mistake.

1 . We do not know what is best. It is but foolish for the fractious shim to fret against his father's commands, for be is not yet able to judge as his father judges. All rebellion against God implies that the soul is in a position to determine questions that lie in the dark, and which only he who is resisted can answer.

2 . We cannot succeed in rebellion. The poor heart that frets itself against God can but wear itself out, like the wave that breaks on the rock it can never shake. How foolish to raise our will in opposition to the Almighty!

IV. IT IS CULPABLE . We must never forget that "foolishness" in the Bible stands for a defect that is more moral than intellectual. It is next door to perversity. This fretting of the heart against the Lord is foolish in the biblical sense; it is sinful.

1 . He is our Master. It is our duty to obey him, whether we like it or not. When we resist ordinances of man we may be fighting for rights of liberty. But we have no liberty to claim against the Lord of all.

2 . He is our Father. This murmuring against him is a sign of domestic ingratitude. Impatience under the rod is even sinful, for we know that it can only smite in love.

V. IT IS DANGEROUS .

1 . It means present unrest. There is peace of soul in submission; to rebel is to be plunged into turmoil and distress.

2 . It leads to future ruin. The foolishness of man not only "perverteth his way," but, as the phrase may be better rendered, "hurls his way headlong, to destruction." It is like the avalanche that sweeps the mountain path, and carries all on it to an awful death.