Month: December 2021

Proverbs 29:25 The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe.

The contrast between believer and unbeliever is brought out by the terms “fear of man” and “trust in the Lord.” The threat of the one ensnares; the promise for the other keeps us safe. Snares and traps are all around us, but when we trust in the Lord we will be safe. It is necessary to take hold of this promise by faith, because we don’t usually see the snares (that’s why they are called snares), nor do we always feel safe (but faith trumps feelings).

It is easier to be led by fear of people (what they think, whether I am liked, how I am treated, my reputation) than by trust in the Lord. So we have a promise in order that we might know whom to fear (believe). “Fear not them which kill the body; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and qbody in hell.” This is God: fear (trust) Him; He will keep you safe. Eternal life and death are in His hands.

He promises to protect you from the snares you don’t even notice, particularly from fear of man. Just walk through life trusting God. It’s His responsibility to keep you safe. “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not with him graciously give us all things.”

Proverbs 29:23 A man’s pride shall bring him low; but honor shall uphold the humble in spirit.

The Great Reversal is a major theme in the Bible: God in Christ humbled Himself to exalt us; the Lord always brings down the proud and exalts the humble; we through His poverty become rich, etc. If we humble ourselves by faith in Christ, identifying with Him in His humility, humanity, suffering, death, and burial, then we will be raised up and exalted to be seated with Him in the heavenly places.

If we do not humble ourselves, and our pride prevents that, then God loves us enough to humble us, so that He may lift us up to our original, created, position of honor, glory and dominion in the Kingdom. God promises to hold up the humble in spirit. “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” When you are humbled by God, God has Good News for you.

The honor that upholds us when we are down is Jesus Himself, who was given a name above every name. So we pray in that name, and not in our own name, our own goodness, our own sincere piety, our own merit or worthiness, or even our own strong faith. We pray in Jesus’ name, His grace, His merit and worthiness, and even His faith. Jesus gives the great gift of humility. We accept genuine humbling in spirit, so that the Lord may lift us up and hold us up.

Proverbs 28:27 He that giveth unto the poor shall not lack: but he that hideth his eyes shall have many a curse.

The conditional promise is: if you give to the poor, then you will not lack. The condition is clear: give to the poor; that’s easy to understand. The antithetical parallel, “hide your eyes,” then means to avert your gaze, avoid, ignore and pass by the poor man, the beggar, the homeless.

The promise, “you will not lack,” admits of several explanations: 1) It can mean not lack anything at all, as in “the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want” for anything. But that is an unconditional promise independent of whether we give to the poor or not; 2) it can mean to simply not lack anything spiritually, as in “my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory.” But that is also an unconditional promise; 3) The context here seems to mean not lack any tangible, physical, earthly money as in “give and it shall be given you.” God gives to the poor through a conduit, you, and when He sees you give He gives you more so you can give more. “God gives to the giver.”

The opposite threat and warning to the unbeliever who refuses to give is that he will “have many a curse.” These then would be earthly curses; monetary goods will be devoured by accident, injury, illness, unforeseen expenses, etc.

This promise is given to us so that the Lord may encourage us to be generous, kind, and giving. You will not miss it; you will have enough; you will not lack. Trust the Lord to provide.

Proverbs 28:26 He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool: but whoso walketh wisely, he shall be delivered.

The promises in Proverbs often come in contrasts: wise and fool, black and white, good and evil, all contrasting believer and unbeliever. The fool (the unbeliever) trusts in himself, in his own opinions, thoughts, and ideas. He does not realize how darkened, empty and stupid his soul has become after the Fall. James says that wisdom not from above is “earthly, unspiritual, demonic.”

The fool says there is no God. The practical atheist ignores God and acts as if He isn’t really involved. The wise fear, love, and trust in God above all things. The contrast is clear. The outcomes are clearer.

The promise of deliverance, solutions for problems, comes to those who “walk wisely,” that is, believers who trust God, believe His Word, and live according to it. This we pray for in the Lord’s Prayer. We are delivered from the evil we got ourselves into. Life has been described as a series of solving problems. This life God gives us through Christ. We shall be delivered!

Proverbs 28:25 He that is of a proud heart stirreth up strife: but he that putteth his trust in the Lord shall be made fat.

It doesn’t seem like a wonderful promise to be made fat, for that we can do easily without a promise by our own gluttonous selves. But “fatness” in the Bible means healthy, strong, full, abundant, satisfied, and even wealthy. Fat refers to physical, earthly blessings as well as spiritual, heavenly blessings. This is indeed a wonderful promise.

The condition for the “fat promise” is trust in the Lord; then you will be made fat. The opposite, antithetical parallel, condition is a “proud heart,” which stirs up strife. This threat will always be true, whether the strife is with God or with other people. Pride destroys, always. A humbled person trusts the Lord, and He promises to bless that. Let Him lift you up. The way to up is by the Lord bringing you down. This is accomplished by hearing Law and Gospel, through which the Spirit brings repentance and faith. Trust comes by continual hearing the meaningful Gospel Word of Christ. Trust and Pride are opposed to each other, in spiritual battle. One makes fat and destroys mountainous obstacles; the other stirs up strife and erects obstacles. Belief vs. Unbelief remains an elemental struggle. Believe the promise!

Proverbs 28:20 A faithful man shall abound with blessings: but he that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent.

The “if” condition for receiving an abundance of blessings is being full of faith. This promise motivates us to be faithful. A faithful person is both full of faith in God and because of that he is faithful to God and people. He is a Christian who will abound with blessings. All of the blessings we enjoy are not always immediate or visible; but they are spiritual and real nonetheless.

A Faithful person is balanced with a person who “makes haste to be rich.” This one is an unbeliever who is faithful neither to God nor to others. The phrase implies a person who lies, cheats, steals and takes bribes, but he simply is not full of faith nor faithful. He doesn’t, like David, trust the Lord to act in His time and His way. In a word, he is “not innocent.” Thus he cannot abound in blessings.

It is helpful for us to trust the Lord to be faithful, and when we trust we become more faithful, in place of leaning on our own understanding. We let go and let God.

Proverbs 28:18 Whoso walketh uprightly shall be saved: but he that is perverse in his ways shall fall at once.

This is a conditional promise: if you walk uprightly you will be saved. The condition of walking uprightly signifies God-fearing believers. Jesus walked uprightly for us, and by faith in Christ we are accounted righteous. Thus we shall be saved. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.”

Saved from what? From our deadly enemies: sin, death, and the devil, and from the eternal punishment in hell. Specifically, we are saved from falling, according to the antithetical parallelism of this verse. “The one who is perverse in his ways shall fall at once.” This is the unbeliever, who has rejected or ignored God. He remains in his sin (perversity). Like Adam, he falls immediately, “at once:” “In the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” Neither Adam, nor the perverse sinner like us, notices immediately how far we have fallen into death right away. Unless the perverse hear the Word of God, they do not realize they are already dead.

Every sin causes us to “fall at once.” When Jesus forgives sin He gives the life to stand upright, and we are saved. Sin and salvation, death and life, is not a never-ending cycle but a continuous upward climb with fits and starts. That is salvation.

Proverbs 28:14 Happy is the man that feareth alway: but he that hardeneth his heart shall fall into mischief.

Happiness is God’s promise for the person who believes all the time. On the reverse side, the unbeliever, who has hardened his heart against God, will fall into mischief. This depicts a common black-and-white differentiation between all people. Some people have come to faith in Christ, are saved, have eternal life, and “fear the Lord always.” Fear = believe. The other people do not trust in Christ alone for salvation, remain in eternal death, and have “hardened their heart.” Harden = not believe. The whole world is separated in this black-or-white way: believer or unbeliever. We cannot know the difference for we cannot see the heart, and we are commanded not to judge. So we live in the gray; God lives in white and black. He alone judges.

A more usual Biblical translation for “happy” is Blessed, as in the Biblical declaration: “Blessed is the man who trusts (fears) the Lord.” Blessed connotes many different aspects of goodness, happiness and well-being. We may not always consider our life to be so wonderfully blessed all the time, but it is, according to the promise. God says it; it is so. God promises; it is real. It is abiding and eternal. Eternal Truth is stronger than the present-moment feelings.

The other side: those who ignore, deny, suppress, or remain ignorant of the love and mercy of God, the grace and forgiveness of Jesus, and the presence and power of the Holy Spirit harden their heart. This is unbelief, the primary sin. For them, they shall fall into mischief. A better translation for mischief is calamity. Paint it like it is: unbelief is an eternal calamity. Trust is eternal blessedness.

Proverbs 28:13 He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.

This conditional promise has a negative and a positive aspect: if you do not cover your sins, then you will not do well; if you do confess and forsake your sins, then you will have mercy. Covering sins is lying: lying to God, which is not actually possible for God knows; lying to self, which is common but self-destructive; and lying to others, which is prideful Pharisaism and the wearing of a mask for outward appearance since we want to be liked. The deception is that we mistakenly think we will prosper in our soul and do well if we can lie to self and others and get away with it. But we are wrong. We will not prosper!

The truth is in the promise: confess your sins and receive mercy. Confess, and believe the promise: “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves….If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins [1 John 1:8-9].” Covering makes God a liar; confessing believes God’s true verdict upon us. Confessing involves readiness to receive Mercy, in Christ. Remember the Pharisee and the tax-collector: “This one went to his house justified rather than the other.”

Ask yourself: What do I really need? Mercy? Or looking good on the outside? That’s a rhetorical question with an obvious answer. Thank God for mercy. We couldn’t prosper in our soul or live well another day without it. Praise God! I have it!

Proverbs 28:5 Evil men understand not judgment: but they that seek the Lord understand all things.

Unbelieving sinners do not understand (because they do not believe God’s Word) the justice and judgment of the Law upon themselves, nor do they understand the just judgment of the Gospel upon our sin in Christ. On the other hand, God promises that believers in Christ, “they that seek the Lord,” understand all things.

That’s an incredible promise that is hard to believe on the face of it, but we understand the promise to include all the things necessary for life and salvation. “All things” means all spiritual things. This is what faith does: it gives sight, spiritual understanding, to see the truths and promises of God. “Faith is the evidence of things not seen.” “Blessed are those who have not seen (physically) and yet have believed.”

We who believe in Jesus understand all things. We understand that we are sinners and that Jesus died for sinners to forgive them and to give life to whoever believes. This we understand by the teaching of the Spirit through the Gospel. We understand all things necessary, for we have the “one thing needful.” Without conversion the human sinner is spiritually blind, dead inside, and opposed to God. After conversion, the logical necessity of Christ makes sense: we see, we are born again, and we are reconciled to God forever.