In the last devotional, we looked at how Proverbs applies the command to love God with all our heart. Today, we will be looking at Proverbs 3:13-4:27. In that passage, we will find many of the same themes we covered given in more detail, and, by the end of chapter 4, a command to “keep our hearts.” I will go briefly over themes that we covered previously, and focus primarily on that command.
In Proverbs 3:13-18, we see strong restatements of the value of wisdom. For instance, blessing accompanies those who pursue wisdom (verse 13), and the gain from it is greater than the finest gold or earthly riches or even our greatest earthly desires (verse 14-15). We come again to the blessings of long life, riches, and peace for pursuing wisdom in verses 16-18.
Verses 19-20 then add another theme: God’s use of wisdom. God was able to create the world through wisdom, reminding us that wisdom is from God and is not the domain of men. If we can use God’s wisdom in great ways, God’s ways of using it are eminently and infinitely greater. It is this same God who then offers the protection afforded to pursuers of His wisdom (verses 21-26). Those verses all converge on the phrase, “for the Lord will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being caught” (verse 26). The One who created all things with wisdom will also sovereignly help those who are pursuing His wisdom. This does not mean that harm will not come upon us, but that all will be administered by God for our good and His glory, that we may be preserved unto eternal life and for growth in godliness and wisdom.
Verses 27-30 cover the love of one’s neighbor. Solomon’s admonitions are given in the form of commands, starting in verses 27 and 28 with the sin of omission: not doing the good that is required of us for our neighbor when it is in our ability to do so. Verses 29-30 then cover the sin of commission: actively doing evil unto our neighbor. In this, the whole duty of loving our neighbor is intended.
Verses 31-35 then contrasts verses 13-30 with those who reject God and His wisdom and who hate their neighbors. In the one, those pursuing wisdom have God as their confidence: they have His blessing, peace, and protection. In the other, the evil person is “an abomination to the Lord” (verse 32a), “the Lord’s curse is on the house of the wicked” (verse 33a), “toward the scornful He is scornful” (verse 34a), and He will ensure that “fools get disgrace” (verse 35b).
When we get to Proverbs 4, we can see that it is broken into three parts. The Pulpit Commentary describes them as the following:
(1) the supreme importance of Wisdom as being “the principal thing” to be obtained before everything else (Proverbs [4:1-9;] 1:7-9);
(2) the two ways that lie open to the choice of youth, distinguished respectively as the way of light and the way of darkness (Proverbs [4:10-19;] 1:14-19); and
(3) the guarding of the heart with all diligence, as being the seat of conscience and the fountain of life in its moral sense (Proverbs [4:20-27;] 1:23-27).
It is significant that there are three mentions of guarding, one in each part. The first is that, when one loves and actively pursues wisdom, then “she will guard you” (verse 6). The second is a command to “Keep hold of instruction; do not let go; guard her, for she is your life” (verse 13). And the third is a command to “Keep [or guard] your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life” (verse 23). So we see three important aspects for guarding: (1) wisdom will guard us, (2) guard wisdom for it is our life, and (3) guard our hearts, since that is where our life (or death for evil ones) flows from. Thus, wisdom protects and we are to protect it, and all this hinges on the condition of our hearts. We can be thankful that God gives us new hearts that can then receive and grow in His wisdom. Salvation is all about the giver of that salvation (and wisdom): God. After we have this new heart, there is a respect in which the blessed effects of His wisdom is a cooperative venture between God and those pursuing wisdom. Wisdom starts with God, but it does not end there. The pursuit of wisdom is the life-giving pursuit of God. As far as godly wisdom gets written on our hearts, then our hearts know what is righteous and wise. It is, in one respect, up to us to make sure that we are not ignorantly choosing ways of foolishness, instead actively pursue knowing and understanding His wisdom revealed in the Bible. The better we are informed of His wisdom and ways, the better equipped we are to guard our own hearts against evil.
One can say that both (1) the fear of the Lord that leads to the pursuit of wisdom, and (2) the way of evil, have the heart as their battleground. The heart is the place where the fear of the Lord first begins. The heart is what becomes wise and applies wisdom. And it is therefore from the heart that flows either all manner of evil or good. Jesus Himself spoke of the heart in very similar language to Proverbs 4:23 in John 7:37-39,
37 On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” 39 Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
In this, we have God giving us a new heart, the gift of wisdom, and the sealing of the Holy Spirit, so that our hearts may “flow with rivers of living water.” What does this then say about the verse, “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life”? Does this sealing mean that we are somehow exempt from that command? Far from it! Rather, we were given the Holy Spirit so that our hearts may exhibit the love of wisdom and righteousness. We were given the Holy Spirit as an aid to guarding our hearts.
What does it mean for us to keep our hearts? I want to bring out the stress of the Hebrew in this verse, which would render it as “above all things that have to be guarded, keep or guard your heart.” The idea is that this guarding is to be first over all else, since our loyalty and love for God is based on the condition of our heart. This guarding includes all of our decision-making and will, which then reveals itself in all our beliefs and actions. What reason does Scripture give us for keeping our hearts? “For from it flow the springs of life.” The Pulpit Commentary is helpful to describe the meaning of this phrase:
The fact here stated is that the moral conduct of life, its actions and proceedings, are determined by the condition of the heart. If the heart is pure, the life will be pure; if the heart is corrupt, the life will be corrupt. The heart is here compared with a fountain. The same idea which is affixed to it in its physical sense is also assigned to it in its ethical or moral sense. Physically, it is the central organ of the body; morally, it is the seat of the affections and the centre of the moral consciousness. From this moral centre flow forth “the issues of life;” i.e. the currents of the moral life take their rise in and flow forth from it, just as from the heart, physically considered, the blood is propelled and flows forth into the arterial system, by which it is conveyed to the remotest extremities of the body. And as the bodily health depends on the healthy action of the heart, so the moral health depends on and is influenced by the state in which this spring of all action is preserved.
The heart is at the center of the Christian’s life. 1 Samuel 16:7b says, “For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” All the kings of Israel and Judah were also judged based on their hearts. And so, the levels of our own obedience and blessing hinges on the guarding of our hearts for the Lord. Our role in guarding our hearts is to discipline ourselves through the willful subjection of all our inward thoughts, desires, and will to the wisdom and fear of the Lord. This includes always trusting in God for the needed resources for keeping our hearts, ongoing careful learning and application of God’s Word, and coming to Him regularly about the condition of our heart. This heart-keeping will then manifest itself in all of our behavior, choices, actions, and priorities. In essence, this is the same standard that the Sermon on the Mount upholds, which entails actively internalizing the Law of God for a comprehensive and joyful submission to Christ. God actively aids us in this process. (For a much more extensive study and application of keeping the heart, see the devotional series by that same title on the church’s website).
Next time we will be looking at Proverbs chapter 5.