We have seen that “slow to speak” is a safeguard against troubles; we now hear how evil it is to be swift to wrath and its expression. How many are the evils of humanity as it is!
“A proud [and] arrogant one, scorner [is] his name, dealeth in haughtiness of pride.
The longing of the sluggard killeth him; for his hands refuse to work.
He longeth greedily all the day; but the righteous giveth and withholdeth not.
The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination; how much more [when] he bringeth it with a wicked purpose!
A false witness shall perish; but the man that heareth shall speak enduringly.
A wicked man hardeneth his face; but the upright, he ordereth (or, considereth) his way.
[There is] no wisdom nor understanding nor counsel against Jehovah.
The horse [is] prepared for the day of battle, but deliverance [is] of Jehovah” (vers. 24-31).
If self-control in speech protects from many a trouble, how different is the scorner's lot and reputation! For pride and arrogance can brook no difference, haughty to superiors and disdainful where they can dare it. O what a blessed relief to learn of Him who was meek and lowly in heart! Yet was He the Son of the Highest, who bowed absolutely to His will, when despised, rejected, and loathed of men. “Even so, Father; for so it seemed good in thy sight!”
Honest labor has its duty, its interests, and its satisfaction. Sloth, which shirks from the work of the hands, leaves all the more room for carking care because of its fruitless desires, disappointed even to death.
The empty longing fills the day, in vain for the man himself and every one else. The righteous on the contrary, with a conscience exercised in the duties of his relationship, has the means through his diligence to open both heart and hand ungrudgingly to the need around him.
Jehovah has respect to the person before his offering. If it be a wicked person, how could his sacrifice be other than an abomination? So in Isa. 66:1-41Thus saith the Lord, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest? 2For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the Lord: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word. 3He that killeth an ox is as if he slew a man; he that sacrificeth a lamb, as if he cut off a dog's neck; he that offereth an oblation, as if he offered swine's blood; he that burneth incense, as if he blessed an idol. Yea, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delighteth in their abominations. 4I also will choose their delusions, and will bring their fears upon them; because when I called, none did answer; when I spake, they did not hear: but they did evil before mine eyes, and chose that in which I delighted not. (Isaiah 66:1‑4) we read of the apostate Jews in the latter day: they may trust in the temple they build, where once the Lord of glory filled it; they may sacrifice a lamb, and offer an oblation, and present a memorial of incense, but they are no better than a dog's neck or swine's blood, or blessing an idol in His eyes who looks for and to the afflicted and contrite that tremble at His word. Worse still is it to bring a sacrifice with wicked aim, as superstition does.
Witness-bearing is the more solemn, because done with deliberate purpose and before God avowedly as well as man. To be false thus is indeed ruinous; but to hear the call and speak the truth is to honor God and serve man, and such a one speaks unchallenged and abidingly.
A wicked man has no shame, he acts and speaks with no restraint. Not so the upright, who looks up for the direction of his way, and considers well his steps.
No axiom so sure as that every claim to wisdom, understanding, or counsel against Jehovah is utter folly. Only destruction can be the end of such a policy.
And in vain is it to trust in ordinary means without Him. The horse may be prepared for the battle; but the victory is with neither the rider nor his horse. Deliverance is of Jehovah.