Proverbs 21:1-31

The Plowing of the Wicked, Etc.

Proverbs 21:0

By "the plowing of the wicked" we are to understand the whole scope of their work; all that the wicked man does is sinful. Here we see an operation of the law of cause and effect. Sometimes it is supposed that a man may be very bad, and yet may do good deeds; we say a man is a drunkard, and yet he is most generous to the poor; we say that a man is cruel, and yet that he is disposed to take a charitable view of certain actions; we say that a man is covetous, and yet that he is magnanimous in judgment. The text will have nothing to do with such reasoning. It first establishes the character of the man, and having determined that, everything else falls into proper position and value. Whatever the bad man does is itself bad, not relatively but essentially. A drunkard may give an alms to a poor person, and that alms may be well bestowed and most acceptable; yet it counts nothing to the credit of the drunkard himself, for he may be but bribing his conscience, or enlarging his opportunities for self-indulgence, or yielding to a merely animal sentiment: the act itself is bad because the actor is bad. Beware of the discrimination which seeks to distinguish between the doer and the deed. If a bad man could do good deeds, then the necessity for regeneration would be disproved. If a good tree could bring forth bad fruit, or a bad tree could bring forth good fruit, essential relations would be changed. The Bible teaches us everywhere that everything depends upon the state of the heart, and that though deeds may be relatively good and temporarily of great value, yet as water cannot rise above its level, so no deed can rise above the moral level of the doer "Ye must be born again." Only the good man can do the really good deed.

"The thoughts of the diligent tend only to plenteousness; but of every one that is hasty only to want" ( Pro 21:5 ).

"Every one that is hasty" points to those who the more haste they make the less speed they realise; they do things carelessly or perfunctorily; they wish to get them out of hand; instead of being critical, patient, painstaking, looking into everything carefully with a view of securing exactness, they hurry their work, they drive along with thoughtlessness, anxious only to gain a goal, and utterly careless as to the way through which they pass to its attainment. This policy of life is utterly condemned because of its consequences; there is nothing abiding that is not in itself really good; the harvest depends upon the seedtime; if we have not been correct in our moral basis and just in our moral policy, no matter what our gain may be it will evaporate, or take to itself wings and flee away, or be only an aggravation of our discontent. Only that is done which is well done. Only that is settled which is settled rightly. Only that will bring forth a great harvest which is in harmony with the structure and the purpose of the universe. We must work by the ways of God, and by eternal ordinances: all our short cuts, and ready methods, and accelerated policies, tend to confusion, and disappointment, and want. This is the affirmation of the wise man, and how far it is correct can be judged by the open page of human history, and can certainly be tested at once by reference to our own experience.

"The way of man is froward and strange: but as for the pure, his work is right" ( Pro 21:8 ).

The meaning is that if a man himself is bad, all the way or track which he makes in life will be marked by crookedness or sinuousness. The bad man cannot go straightforwardly. When a man is intoxicated he reels from side to side of the road; when a man is carrying a burden that is too heavy for him he cannot keep steadfastly on his feet, and the way which he leaves behind him is marked by irregularity: this is the teaching of the text; if a man is laden with sin he will leave a tortuous track behind him; he will be here and there, he will be unsteady and uncertain; it is impossible for him to go straightforwardly because of the oppression of the weight under which he reels. The contrary is the case with the pure: his work is right or straight; he has nothing burdensome to carry; his eyes look right on and his feet are set down with solidity and precision. If we could mark the way by which the pure man passes through life we should see how comparable it is to a straight line. The bad man is continually dodging, eluding, or evading some real or imaginary danger; the wicked flee when no man pursueth, but the righteous are bold as a lion. The pure man walks straightforwardly, and by the mere force of his pureness he makes a way where there is none, and those who would have opposed him shrink out of his path, recognising in him the representative of truth and honour.

"The righteous man wisely considereth the house of the wicked: but God overthroweth the wicked for their wickedness" ( Pro 21:12 ).

The "righteous man" should rather be the "righteous one," and by that one we are to understand the Almighty himself: the text would then read: The righteous God marks the house of the wicked, and God throws down the wicked for their destruction. Here is the solemn principle of judgment applied to individual life and individual habitation. The picture is that of God seated in the heavens, and marking the house of the wicked man, noting all that goes on under its roof, marking all the history that is enclosed by its walls, and at the right time bringing upon the roof of the wicked man's house the rod of lightning, so that it is cleft in twain, and the wicked are overthrown even in the midst of their orgies and the very madness of their delight. For a long time the house of the wicked seems to be secure; every window is aflame with a rosy light through the long nighttime, and through the open door are heard noises of music and of dancing; the rejoicing is for a time only; God is watching the whole process, and at the right moment he will overthrow the house and plough up its foundations. Better to be in a little house of honesty and righteousness and truth than in a great palace of dishonesty and unrighteousness and falsehood. He that is righteous lives in a rock that cannot be overthrown, a pavilion within which there can be no fear of the violence of raging storms. How is this to be obtained? What is the rock within which the heart of man can safely live? Has it been named? Has it not been called the Rock of Ages? And have not they who have fled to it been assured day by day of ever-increasing security? That rock is open to us all, the very granite bears upon it an inscription indicative of hospitality and welcome. Blessed are they who flee to it that they may find rest and sustenance.

"It is joy to the just to do judgment: but destruction shall be to the workers of iniquity" ( Pro 21:15 ).

A curious apposition of sentences. The doctrine is that workers of iniquity cannot do right without being afflicted with a sense of terror. So debased are they by the spirit of evil that even to do right brings with it a sensation of doing wrong, or of drawing too near to God to be safe from the stroke of his lightning. It would seem that wickedness so affects the character and the tone of the whole life that bad men cannot trust divine promises. Bad men cannot commit themselves to spiritual policy or spiritual trust; it is like asking blind men to go into danger without any guidance or protection; bad men feel that if they would live they are bound to be dishonest; it seems utterly impossible to them that honesty can be the best policy, or that truth can bring itself to successful issue and satisfaction. See what ravages are made in the judgment and in the heart by long-continued processes of sin. When a man loves iniquity he cannot love God; he cannot pray; he cannot think aright; the Sabbath is a burden to him; the Bible is a continual offence to his corrupted reason; and the whole way of life seems to be a way of danger and trouble and manifold terror. The bad man can do wickedly as if by a species of right, earned by long custom; but when he opens his mouth in prayer he feels as if he were committing a trespass against himself and the universe.

"The sacrifice of the wicked is abomination: how much more, when he bringeth it with a wicked mind?" ( Pro 21:27 ).

The supposition is that a wicked man feels that he must offer sacrifices, but in the very act of being religious he is secretly imagining himself in a position to make God a confederate in his sin. The idea is that when the wicked man is offering a sacrifice he is buying permission to do wrong. It is as if by going to church occasionally a man earned the right to do selfishly and unjustly all the week long. Or as if a man by giving an alms to poverty earned the right to cheat the simple-minded and overthrow those who put their trust in him. Yet we are told that the doctrine of original sin is a mere phantasy! Can the debasing influence of sin go further than this, that it shall make a merchandise of religion itself, and turn prayer into a species of investment, and draw profits from the very act of attempting to worship God? The picture is that of a man who is offering a sacrifice at the altar, and yet at the same time is plotting future wickedness. He says to himself, All this shall turn to my advantage; I am really not so much at the altar as I am in the mart, or in the exchange, or at the place where merchants most do congregate: all this looks very religious on my part, but I am simply setting up a ladder by which I may scale higher worldly eminence, all this will presently turn to my advantage; do not imagine me to be superhumanly religious, I am only pre-eminently clever; this is not piety, it is policy; this is not sacrifice, it is elaborate scheming. Can we see these revelations of human nature without asking ourselves how that nature can be vitally changed? And can we consider that great inquiry without feeling that "Ye must be born again" is the only doctrine that is radical, vital, complete, and enduring in its happy effects?

Prayer

Almighty God, we can say with our heart's consent, The Lord is mindful of his own, he remembers his children; like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. Thou hast made us in thine own image and likeness, and towards thyself thou art continually calling us by the whole ministry of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. We are called to bear the divine image in our souls, to be as perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect. The call overwhelms us: but where thou dost send the call thou dost send the helpful and needful grace. Thy call is a call of life and love, and thou dost sustain those who obey it, giving them grace upon grace, yea, to fulness of joy and peace, so that in their increase of power they say, We can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth us. Our praise be evermore to Christ! If we forget thee, Immanuel, may our right hand forget its cunning and our tongue cleave to the roof of our mouth. Behold thou art the Son of God; to us thou art God the Son. We cannot tell thy beginning, or thine ending, or the way of thy mediation and sovereignty: but we put our trust in the living Christ, and from him would draw the life we daily need. We have no faith in our own bow and spear and sword; we have renounced our invention and mental fertility, and power of planning ways out of infinite difficulties; and now we stand still, like so many little children, and see the salvation of God, beginning in mystery, showing itself momentarily in a great light, withdrawing for our accommodation, appealing to us in whispers and tender entreaties, and showing us daily the way of deliverance and safety. Blessed be God, this is thy way; we are now led to accept it; we praise God for his redemption in Christ Jesus, and call ourselves men redeemed. We cannot follow the mystery of thy love in the atonement wrought by thy Son, but we can follow the mystery of thy love in daily providence; we see the rising sun; we feel the summer warmth; we are made glad by the fruitfulness of the healing earth consenting to the ministry of light and the baptism of rain, and answering the heavens in orchards and wheatfields rich with fruit and bread. We can see how we ourselves have been led along the way of life. We remember the days of long ago the days of darkness and difficulty, when every hill was steep, when every mountain was hanging over us in a threatening attitude, and when there was no blessing pronounced by human lips; we have seen the angel delivering us, leading us forth, showing us the way where we should find health, peace, companionship, and service worthy of our spirits. Thou hast fed us day by day; in the night season thou hast ministered to us; there is no day void of God; thy love is set upon each hour as the king's seal. Knowing all these things, we are filled with hope; we say, The end shall be better than the beginning; thou art able to do more than we ask or think, yea, exceeding abundantly above our prayers: so we are rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, confident in the sovereignty and grace of God. Continue thy miracle; complete it in our heart's experience; give us liberty of soul, confidence of spirit, obedience of will, aptitude of mind, docility of heart, so that we may receive thy will, and do it all, with patience and love and thankfulness. We pray for one another. We need so to do. In this way we can help our lives: seeking blessing for one another, we are blessed ourselves. We pray for those who are deaf in thy house, who hear nothing but noise, who miss all the music and all the tenderness. We pray for those who are dumb, who do not even sigh or secretly say Amen, or cause their voice to be heard in the singing of thy praise. The Lord pity the deaf and dumb. Perhaps some of them hardly mean it all; perhaps they hear more than we suppose, yea, they may, for ought we know, be secretly sighing their sorrow, or singing their praise; but we leave them in thine hands, O gentle One. Look upon those who are perplexed, distracted, bewildered; men of fine impulse and noble intention, but who are baffled and struck in the face by a thousand hands, so that they cannot tell one way from the other. They do not mean all their sin, or thou, even thou, merciful One, couldst not keep them out of hell. They are distracted: they are half-praying even whilst they are denying the altar: they are looking into thy Book if haply they may find something in it for their hearts' healing at the very moment when they are raising questions about its inspiration. Thou knowest the heart strange, wild, perverse heart. Thou understandest all the mystery of its motion and impulse and desire, passion and madness; thou didst make it: its intricacy attests thine own creation. And look upon those who have half-turned home, who are looking towards abandoned altars and forsaken securities, and who are saying to themselves they will arise and go to their Father, but have yet kept their intention a secret, so that they have not the advantage of public support and countenance in their holy resolve. Lord, now determine them! May they take the first step this very moment, and may they be found at home at the time of the setting of the sun. Look upon all wasteful spirits men who do not know what life is, who have begun a wrong arithmetic concerning it, who have been adding whilst they should have been subtracting, and who have been multiplying cyphers by cyphers in the hope that they might find a substantial result; strange men, worldly men; men who have had to murder themselves in order to begin this way of folly and vanity; men who dare not speak to themselves because every word spoken by the spirit would be a contradiction of every deed done by the hand. Thou knowest them altogether; search them, and try them, and let them know that the candle of the Lord is being held over their inmost life: perhaps who can tell? they may repent. Comfort us with an assured forgiveness. Let every soul feel that for Christ's sake his sin has been pardoned. Let a great joy, as a joy of liberty and release, seize the heart. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Ghost: we need this Triune God to save us. We bless Thee for the Cross, for the sacrificial blood, for the infinite atonement; we rest at the Cross, for at the Cross we find pardon and peace. Help us the rest of our lives; thou knowest every man's struggle, his peculiar battle and special agony; according to the need of each heart send angels from heaven. Amen.