Proverbs 18:14 The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity; but a wounded spirit who can bear? I. WHAT IS MEANT BY "A WOUNDED SPIRIT"? A guilty and self-condemning conscience arising both from a sense of sin and of the danger which a man by sinning has brought himself into. II. WHY IS A WOUNDED SPIRIT SO GRIEVOUS AND UNSUPPORTABLE? 1. It imports a sense of sin in offending against the light and conviction of our own minds. 2. In offending against the majesty of a gracious and good God. 3. A sense of danger in provoking the justice of an angry and avenging God. The spirits of men are often wounded, and their thoughts afflicted, at a sense of the present shame and sufferings which their evil courses bring upon them. The following are crimes which, in their own nature are attended with uneasy and stinging reflections:(1) Public offences against government and the common interests and good of society. (2) When the wrong-doer is under any obligations of love, fidelity, or obedience to those whom he injures. III. THOUGH THE CONDITION OF SUCH A PERSON IS SO DEPLORABLE, IT IS NOT HOPELESS OR DESPERATE. By the grace of God means are left for his recovery. That faith which, according to the terms of the gospel, justifies a sinner, and is reckoned unto him for righteousness, imports a firm belief that Jesus was the Messiah, the Saviour of the world, and that His sufferings and death upon the Cross were a true and proper expiatory sacrifice for the sins of the whole world. Let us apply the benefits of that general expiation Christ made for the sins of mankind to our particular persons. (R. Fiddes, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity; but a wounded spirit who can bear?WEB: A man's spirit will sustain him in sickness, but a crushed spirit, who can bear? |
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