Proverbs 24

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How good for the believer that he has the plain, simple, understandable Word of God for his help and guidance through life! Let us make more diligent use of it.
Verse 1. Evil men are often prosperous, and their troubles seem light, or at least they make light of them. We are warned against enjoying such, or wishing to be with them, because they are the wrong kind of companions for those who would please God.
Verses 11, 12. Man's course since Cain has been marked by the open or the covered avowal concerning his fellows, "I am not my brother's keeper," and from this principle of fallen man the present depression is sprung. In these verses the opposite, the divine principle is seen. I am to look with the deepest interest upon my fellow-men, to do what is in my power for them. Man being a sinner, and the wages of sin death, but the gift of God eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord, we see in verses 11 and 12 the call of God to seek the salvation of all whom we can reach with the good news. With a direct commission of the highest order, the apostle Paul could say,
"Necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel." 1 Corinthians 9:1616For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of: for necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel! (1 Corinthians 9:16). O, for more earnest seeking the salvation of the lost in these closing days!
Verse 29 speaks of another principle of man's, but for the believer it is "Say not!"
"And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise" (Luke 6:3131And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise. (Luke 6:31)), is the language of our blessed Lord concerning ways that are pleasing to Him. Verses 30-34 are, of course, the truth concerning our natural lives, but a lesson is contained in them for the Christian. Are the things of God, things which concern Him, receiving due attention from us His children? Is our "vineyard" all grown over with "thistles and nettles," instead of the "vines" being carefully tended and cultivated? Is our "stone wall", intended to keep all intruders out, all broken down? Amusements, filling the mind with the literature of the day, the pursuit of business,—these divert the Christian from the Bible and prayer, from the prayer meeting, and make him barren (or idle) and unfruitful as regards the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. (See 1 Peter 1:1-111Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, 2Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied. 3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, 5Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: 7That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: 8Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: 9Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls. 10Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you: 11Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. (1 Peter 1:1‑11).)