Proverbs 19:3 The foolishness of man perverts his way: and his heart frets against the LORD. I. CONSIDER THE EXTERNAL CONDITION OF MAN. He is placed in a world where he has by no means the disposal of the events that happen. Calamities befall us, which are directly the Divine dealing. But a multitude of evils beset us which are due to our own negligences or imprudences. Men seek to ascribe their disappointments to any cause rather than to their own misconduct, and when they can devise no other cause they lay them to the charge of Providence. They are doubly unjust towards God. When we look abroad we see more proofs of the truth of this assertion. We see great societies of men torn in pieces by intestine dissensions, tumults, and civil commotions. But did man control his passions, and form his conduct according to the dictates of wisdom, humanity, and virtue, the earth would no longer be desolated by wars and cruelties. II. CONSIDER THE INTERNAL STATE OF MAN. So far as this inward disquietude arises from the stings of conscience and the horrors of guilt, there can be no doubt of its being self-created misery, which it is impossible to impute to Heaven. But how much poison man himself infuses into the most prosperous conditions by peevishness and restlessness, by impatience and low spirits, etc. Unattainable objects pursued, intemperate passions nourished, vicious pleasures and desires indulged, God and God's holy laws forgotten — these are the great scourges of the world; the great causes of the life of man being so embroiled and unhappy. 1. Let us be taught to look upon sin as the source of all our miseries. 2. The reality of a Divine government exercised over the world. 3. The injustice of our charging Providence with a promiscuous and unequal distribution of its favours among the good and the bad. 4. The necessity of looking up to God for direction and aid in the conduct of life. Let us hold fast the persuasion of these fundamental truths — that, in all His dispensations, God is just and good; that the cause of all the troubles we suffer is in ourselves, not in Him; that virtue is the surest guide to a happy life; and that he who forsakes this guide enters upon the path of death. (H. Blair, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: The foolishness of man perverteth his way: and his heart fretteth against the LORD.WEB: The foolishness of man subverts his way; his heart rages against Yahweh. |
    |