Proverbs 16
The first verse is better translated “The purposes of the heart are of man, but the answer of the tongue is from the Lord.” We may link this with verse 9: “A man’s heart deviseth his way, but the Lord directeth his steps,” and verse 33: “The lot is cast into the lap, but the whole disposing thereof (or whole decision) is of the Lord.”
Nothing happens without God; some where in the course of things, however self-willed, or heedless of consequences we may be, He will enter the believer’s path,—and the unbeliever’s too, for He is sovereign.
In the day that Adam and Eve sinned, God announced His purpose to overcome the power of Satan, and in faith our first parents heard and believed it.
Abraham following his natural sight, went down into Egypt, forsaking the path of faith, but God so ordered his circumstances that he returned, chastened and blessed.
Jacob brought upon himself much sorrow by his selfish and deceitful course, but God brought him, through letting him suffer for his wrong doing, into the unclouded enjoyment of His favor.
Pharaoh, without the fear of God, became the willing tool of Satan in fighting against the Omnipotent One, and by and by God entered and hardened his heart. His forbearance had reached its full limit.
The Scriptures give many more examples of God’s entering into a man’s life and ordering his circumstances, if we have but eyes to see it, examples abound all around us today.
Has God His right place in your plans and purposes, and mine? Do we habitually. so to speak, invite Him to guide us with His counsel; or are we careless of Him and of what concerns Him, and so He must interfere, perhaps through painful experiences for us, to bless us at the last ? (Study verses 2 to 9 in this connection).
The king (verse 10 and following) is God’s representative in the government of the world, looked upon as acting in God’s fear. Solomon was, in the earlier part of his reign, a ruler according to God’s design, as was David his father. The later kings of Israel and of Judah, with few exceptions, departed far from God, and in the books of Kings and Chronicles they, rather than their subjects, are held responsible and judged for it. (See for example 1 Kings 14:7-147Go, tell Jeroboam, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Forasmuch as I exalted thee from among the people, and made thee prince over my people Israel, 8And rent the kingdom away from the house of David, and gave it thee: and yet thou hast not been as my servant David, who kept my commandments, and who followed me with all his heart, to do that only which was right in mine eyes; 9But hast done evil above all that were before thee: for thou hast gone and made thee other gods, and molten images, to provoke me to anger, and hast cast me behind thy back: 10Therefore, behold, I will bring evil upon the house of Jeroboam, and will cut off from Jeroboam him that pisseth against the wall, and him that is shut up and left in Israel, and will take away the remnant of the house of Jeroboam, as a man taketh away dung, till it be all gone. 11Him that dieth of Jeroboam in the city shall the dogs eat; and him that dieth in the field shall the fowls of the air eat: for the Lord hath spoken it. 12Arise thou therefore, get thee to thine own house: and when thy feet enter into the city, the child shall die. 13And all Israel shall mourn for him, and bury him: for he only of Jeroboam shall come to the grave, because in him there is found some good thing toward the Lord God of Israel in the house of Jeroboam. 14Moreover the Lord shall raise him up a king over Israel, who shall cut off the house of Jeroboam that day: but what? even now. (1 Kings 14:7‑14); 2 Chronicles 33:2-92But did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, like unto the abominations of the heathen, whom the Lord had cast out before the children of Israel. 3For he built again the high places which Hezekiah his father had broken down, and he reared up altars for Baalim, and made groves, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them. 4Also he built altars in the house of the Lord, whereof the Lord had said, In Jerusalem shall my name be for ever. 5And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord. 6And he caused his children to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom: also he observed times, and used enchantments, and used witchcraft, and dealt with a familiar spirit, and with wizards: he wrought much evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger. 7And he set a carved image, the idol which he had made, in the house of God, of which God had said to David and to Solomon his son, In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen before all the tribes of Israel, will I put my name for ever: 8Neither will I any more remove the foot of Israel from out of the land which I have appointed for your fathers; so that they will take heed to do all that I have commanded them, according to the whole law and the statutes and the ordinances by the hand of Moses. 9So Manasseh made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to err, and to do worse than the heathen, whom the Lord had destroyed before the children of Israel. (2 Chronicles 33:2‑9)).
Verse 20 in the revised version is an excellent motto for the believer’s home:
“He that giveth heed to the Word shall find good; and whoso confideth in Jehovah, happy is he.” Space will not permit commenting on more of the proverbs in this chapter which are full of wisdom for our earthly path.
Messages of God’s Love 7/10/1932