GOD is the God of peace, and Christ will be Prince of peace when He shall have taken His great power and reigned. Meanwhile He has made peace through the blood of His cross, that the believer should have peace with God, and walk in the spirit of peace, whatever the turmoil of man. Nor need one wonder that man, in the misery and selfishness of sin unjudged and unforgiven, should be swift to speak and swift to wrath.
“A furious man stirreth up contention; but one slow to anger appeaseth strife.
The way of the sluggard is as a hedge of thorns; but the path of the upright is made a causeway.
A wise son maketh a glad father: but a foolish man depiseth his mother.
Folly is joy to him that is void of heart; but a man of understanding maketh his walk straight.
Without counsel purposes are disappointed; but in the multitude of counselors they are established.
A man hath joy in the answer of his mouth, and a word in season, how good it is!
The path of life [is] upward for the wise, that he may depart from Sheol beneath.
Jehovah plucketh up the house of the proud, but He establisheth the border of the widow” (verses 18-25).
Whence come wars and whence fightings among you? asks James the Just. Is it not thence—from your pleasures which war in your members? Ye lust and have not; ye kill and are full of envy, and cannot obtain; ye fight and war; ye have not because ye ask not. Ye ask and receive not because ye ask amiss that ye may spend it in your pleasures. How truly a furious man stirreth up contentions! Whereas one slow to anger not only gives no occasion to strife, but appeases it. Peacemaking begins in the heart bowing to God in Christ through grace, and characterizes the spirit and walk.
The slothful fear a painful obstacle in their way, put off their duty, and seek not grace for seasonable help, if it were even a real difficulty or trial. The upright see a plain road, because the eye is single in obedience.
So in family life a father's heart is gladdened by a son who begins and goes on in the fear of the Lord. A foolish one shows what he is by despising her who bore him and watched over his years of weakness, who wastes his strength on himself or what is no better.
Again, how sad yet certain it is that folly is joy to the senseless heart! Not even a brute lives so despicably. A man of understanding looks up and walks straight with purpose in his heart.
Hence the importance of counsel (22), for where there is none purposes are disappointed. It is wise to be swift to hear; for in the multitude of counselors purposes are established. Self-confidence is a sorry guide.
Thus too one learns to help others, when speech is well considered, timely, and sought for. “A man hath joy (not pride) in the answer of his mouth.” Others too reap the profit, as he desires; for “a word in season, how good is it!”
Nor does the good end in this life; for “the path of life is upward for the wise, that he may depart from Sheol beneath.” The end is life everlasting, as all saints knew, though none could forecast that life now quickening the soul here below. This Christ revealed as clearly as a future hour when the body shall be instinct with the same life at His coming.
Jehovah is righteous and good in His ways; for He will pluck up the house of the proud who scorn Him, and will establish the border of the widow whom He compassionates in her sorrow and defends in her weakness and exposure.