The fear of the LORD leads to life, that one may rest content, without visitation from harm. Sermons
I. ENSURE OUR SAFETY. So that we shall not be visited with evil. But is not the good man visited with evil? Do not his crops fail, his vessels sink, his shares fall, his difficulties gather, his children die? Does not his health decline, his hope depart, his life lessen? Yes; but: 1. From the worst evils his piety secures him. The "fear of the Lord," that Holy One before whom he stands and with whom he walks, keeps him from folly, from fraud, from vice, from moral contamination, from that "death in life" which is the thing to be dreaded and avoided. 2. And the troubles and sorrows which do assail him lose all their bitterness as they wear the aspect of a heavenly Father's discipline, who, in all that he sends or suffers, is seeking the truest and the lasting well being of his children. The man who is living in the fear of God, and in the love of Jesus Christ, may go on his homeward way with no anxiety in his heart, for he has the promise of his Saviour that all things shall work together for good - those things that are the least pleasant as well as those that are the most inviting. II. SATISFY OUR SOUL. "Shall abide satisfied." Certainly it is only the man of real piety of whom this word can be used. Discontent is the mark which "the world and the things which are in the world" leave on the countenance and write on the heart of man. Nothing that is less than the Divine gives rest to the human spirit. Mirth, enjoyment, temporary happiness, may be commanded, but not abiding satisfaction. That, however, is found in the devoted service of a Divine Redeemer. Let a man yield himself, his whole powers and all his life, to the Saviour who 1oved him unto death, and in following and serving him he will "find rest unto his soul." Not half-hearted but whole-hearted service brings the joy which no accident can remove and which time does not efface or even lessen. The secret of lifelong blessedness is found, not in the assertion of an impossible freedom from obligation, but in an open, practicable, elevating service of the living God, our Divine Saviour. III. CONSTITUTE OUR LIFE AND CONDUCT TO A STILL HIGHER FORM OF IT. "The fear of the Lord tendeth to life." It is not merely that a regard for God's will conduces to health and leads to long life (Psalm 91:16); it is not only that it tends to secure to its possessor an honourable and estimable life among men. It is much more than this; it is that it constitutes human life. "This is life eternal, to know thee, the only true God." For man to live in ignorance or in forgetfulness of his Divine Father is to miss or to lose his life while he has it (or seems to have it). On the other hand, to live a life of reverence, of trustfulness in God, of love to him, of filial obedience and submission, of cheerful and devoted cooperation with him in the great redemptive work he is outworking, to be attaining more and more to his own spiritual likeness, - this is life itself, life in its excellency, its fulness, its beauty. Moreover, it itself, with all its worth, is but the prelude of that which is to come. It is the "fair beginning" of that which shall realize a glorious consummation a little further on. With all that hinders and hampers taken away, and with all that facilitates and enlarges bestowed upon us, we enter upon the nobler life beyond, which we have no language to describe because we have no faculty that can conceive its blessedness or its glory. 1. Let the perils of human life point to a Divine Refuge. 2. Let the weariness of earthly good lend to the Divine Source of rest and joy. 3. In the midst of the deathfulness of sin, lay hold on eternal life. - C.
The fear of the Lord tendeth to life. Godliness has "the promise of the life that now is." It might have been otherwise. Infinite Benevolence would have His saints to be happy. As God is the source of all happiness in heaven, so all contact with God brings happiness here.I. THE FEAR OF THE LORD. Not that dread of God that is in a sense innate in every unconverted and unregenerate soul, nor that dread which comes into the heart of man when the Holy Spirit opens up the law of God to him, nor the dread that comes into the heart of an unfaithful and backsliding Christian. This is the fear of a child, wrought in the soul by the Spirit. This fear comes from a view of Jesus, from a sight of God in Christ. II. GREAT BLESSINGS CONNECTED WITH THIS FEAR. 1. This fear tendeth to life; that is, to prolong life, and that a true life. 2. He that hath it shall abide satisfied. There is some satisfaction in lower things, but not abiding satisfaction. Everything connected with the service of God has an unutterable blessing in it. 3. He shall not be visited with evil. Though there may come to him a thousand things that seem only evil, not one real evil shall befall him. (J. H. Evans, M. A.) I. "THE FEAR OF THE LORD TENDETH TO LIFE." The fear of the Lord, in many cases, "prolongeth days" even in this world. For while "the wicked and the sinner" often, through his own transgressions and excesses, shortens his life, and perhaps does not "live out half his days," the fear of the Lord frequently, through His blessing, brings health and long life. It does so partly through the temperance and weft-regulated habits to which it leads, and partly through the peace, contentment, and happiness which it causes to the mind, and which are better than medicine for the health of the body. II. But now let us observe the next thing which is said in connection with the fear of the Lord: "HE THAT HATH IT SHALL ABIDE SATISFIED"; not only shall be, but shall abide, satisfied. Satisfaction, thorough, abiding satisfaction — is not this the thing which every soul of man desires above all the things that can be named? Riches, honour, power, pleasure, all the so-called goods of earth — are these things desired, even by the most worldly, for their own sake? or are they not coveted rather for the sake of the satisfaction which it is secretly thought they will furnish? But do they, can they furnish satisfaction? Alas! how often do the choicest and most valued earthly prizes wither and crumble in the grasp of those who have attained them! And here we are led to look into the nature and reasons of the abiding satisfaction enjoyed by him that hath the fear of the Lord. Such a person is united to God through Christ. And this being his happy case, he has God in Christ as his "portion" and "exceeding great reward." And who or what can satisfy as God can? God, the infinite and eternal God, has pleasures, comforts, satisfactions, joys, with which He can so fill the soul as to give it the most perfect and overflowing contentment and happiness, and that for ever and ever. It is true that the complete and absolute perfection of this contentment and happiness cannot be enjoyed in this world of sin and trouble; but still it is equally true that, even here, great and blessed, albeit imperfect and partial, foretastes may be enjoyed of what will be perfect and complete hereafter. III. "HE THAT HATH IT SHALL NOT BE VISITED WITH EVIL." What a blessed and cheering promise, in a world like ours, which is so full of evil! But what are we to understand by this promise? Have not the chosen of God, in multitudes of cases, appeared to inherit even a more than ordinary share of trouble and calamity? Certainly, God has often wrought out wonderful deliverances from such outward evil for His chosen; and every one of them would, doubtless, freely acknowledge that he has never been visited with such things as often or as severely as his sins have deserved. But, on the other hand, it is also undeniable that painful losses, cutting griefs, and sore temptations have visited God's children more or less from the beginning, and at times with remarkable severity. And were not these things "evil"? No, never were any of them really evil to a single one of the true children of God, who feared His name. Though evil in their own nature, they were not evil to them. Even the most trying and painful things work through God's grace for great good in forming the soul to faith and patience, and unworldliness, and humble waiting upon God; so that affliction is made a school of training and most blessed discipline for heaven. "It is good for me that I have been afflicted." Yes, there shall no evil happen to the just, no evil that shall hurt his spiritual and eternal interests, no evil which he will think of pronouncing such when he has once quitted this world, where evil is so commonly called good, good evil; and, when he finds himself in that happy state of existence, in which he will no longer "see through a glass darkly," but with clear, full, and perfect vision. (C. R. Hay, M. A.) Homilist. I. VITALITY. "It tendeth to life."1. It is conducive to bodily life. 2. It is conducive to intellectual life. Love to God stimulates the intellect to study God and His works. 3. It is conducive to spiritual life. "This is life eternal, to know Thee," etc. II. SATISFACTION. "Shall abide satisfied." 1. It pacifies the conscience. 2. It reconciles to providence. "Not My will, but Thine be done." III. SAFETY. "He shall not be visited with evil." He may have sufferings, but sufferings in his case will not be evils; they will be blessings in disguise. His light afflictions will work out a far more exceeding and eternal glory. (Homilist.) People Isaiah, SolomonPlaces JerusalemTopics Abide, Charged, Content, Contentment, Evil, Fear, Gives, Harm, Leads, Nothing, Rest, Rests, Satisfied, Sleep, Tendeth, Touched, Trouble, Untouched, VisitedOutline 1. Life and ConductDictionary of Bible Themes Proverbs 19:23 5057 rest, physical Library How the Slothful and the Hasty are to be Admonished. (Admonition 16.) Differently to be admonished are the slothful and the hasty. For the former are to be persuaded not to lose, by putting it off, the good they have to do; but the latter are to be admonished lest, while they forestall the time of good deeds by inconsiderate haste, they change their meritorious character. To the slothful therefore it is to be intimated, that often, when we will not do at the right time what we can, before long, when we will, we cannot. For the very indolence of … Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great How the Impatient and the Patient are to be Admonished. Second Journey through Galilee - the Healing of the Leper. The Kingdom of God Conceived as the Inheritance of the Poor. "Boast not Thyself of to Morrow, for Thou Knowest not what a Day May Bring Forth. " The Wrath of God The Unity of God Man's Misery by the Fall Covenanting According to the Purposes of God. The Ninth Commandment The Knowledge of God Christian Meekness The Third Commandment Proverbs Links Proverbs 19:23 NIVProverbs 19:23 NLT Proverbs 19:23 ESV Proverbs 19:23 NASB Proverbs 19:23 KJV Proverbs 19:23 Bible Apps Proverbs 19:23 Parallel Proverbs 19:23 Biblia Paralela Proverbs 19:23 Chinese Bible Proverbs 19:23 French Bible Proverbs 19:23 German Bible Proverbs 19:23 Commentaries Bible Hub |
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