If Jehovah manifested wisdom, understanding, and knowledge in creation and in its least things as well as the greatest, how vain in all to forego the quest, or the means open to them from on high!
“My son, let them not depart from thine eyes; keep true counsel and discretion: so shall they be life to thy soul, and grace to thy neck. Then shalt thou walk in thy way securely, and thy foot shall not stumble. When thou liest down, thou shalt not be afraid, but thou shalt lie down, and thy sleep shall be sweet. Be not afraid of sudden fear, nor of the desolation of the wicked when it cometh; for Jehovah shall be thy confidence, and shall keep thy foot from being taken” (vers. 21-26).
Change is a snare to the young especially; hence Jehovah's wise ways were no more to depart from their eyes than they were to be wise in their own eyes: life inwardly, honor outwardly, would follow; the walk be secure, the foot stumble not. Nor would the night bring fear but sweet sleep. Nor would alarm surprise when the storm falls on the wicked, for Jehovah is the confidence against all snares and terrors.
“Withhold not good from those to whom it is due, when it is in the power of thy hand to do it. Say not unto thy neighbor, Go and come again, and to-morrow I will give, when thou hast it by thee. Devise not evil against thy neighbor, seeing he dwelleth securely by thee. Strive not with a man without cause, if he have done thee no harm. Envy not the man of violence, and choose none of his ways. For the perverse [is] an abomination to Jehovah; but his secret [is] with the upright. The curse of Jehovah [is] in the house of the wicked; but he blesseth the habitation of the righteous. He indeed scorneth the scorners; but he giveth grace to the lowly. The wise shall inherit glory; but shame shall be the promotion of fools (vers. 27-35).
The heart is deceitful as well as suspicious in a world of evil. Hence the importance of the simple-hearted integrity which confiding in Him gives. He that gives (exhorted the apostle), in simplicity, which is liberality. The lack of looking to Jehovah brings crookedness in dealing with man; the bowels of compassion are closed. The same lack may be even mischievous, and quarrelsome, instead of, if possible, as far as depends on us, living peaceably with all. And why envy the violent man, or choose any of his short cuts? All these ways are turned aside from God's will, which alone is good, acceptable, perfect, and which alone makes happy him who learns it in Christ. The perverse is an abomination to Jehovah, as His secret is with the upright. “Shall I hide from Abraham the thing that I do?” So His curse is not only on the person but on the house of the wicked, as He blesseth the habitation of the righteous. Neither wealth can avert the one nor poverty prevent the other.
Yet there is an evil even lower, and never did it abound so much as in the end of the closing days as now, scorn or mocking, where self reigns unblushingly in contempt of all that is good and noble and generous, as well as holy and true. But “He indeed scorneth the scorners,” as surely as “He giveth grace to the lowly.” The wise shall understand, as Daniel assures; but, further, “the wise shall inherit glory,” whereas “shame shall be the promotion of the foolish,” whatever the deception of present appearances or of such as trust them. “Judge not according to sight (said the Lord), but judge righteous judgment.”