The solicitude of the wise father: a sermon to parents and children
In these verses we have a peep into the royal house at Jerusalem while David was on the throne. And we have such a glimpse as we should expect to gain. We see the devout man extremely solicitous that his son should walk in the ways of Divine and heavenly wisdom. David, like the rest of human parents, and more than most of them, was under—
I. A STRONG TEMPTATION TO MAKE A FALSE ESTIMATE. So near to us is this present passing world, so powerfully do its interests appeal to us, so strong is the hold which it gains over our senses and our imagination, that we are apt to overestimate altogether its claims and its worth. And this in proportion to the height of the dignity, the measure of the power, the extent of the fortune, to which we have attained. David, as a man subject to all human passions, would be particularly tempted to weigh the worldly advantages of his favourite son, and estimate them very carefully and very highly. He would be in danger of considering—not exclusively, but excessively—what would be the extent of his kingly rule, what the revenue he would be able to collect, what the influence he would wield over neighbouring powers, what the authority he would exercise over his own people, etc. And in the thick throng of these mundane considerations there would be no small risk of other and higher things being lost sight of. So with other if not with all parents. There is a constant danger of worldly anxieties about our children absorbing, or at any rate obscuring, the deeper and worthier solicitudes. But in the case of the devout; monarch of Israel there was, as there should be with us all—
II. A WISE DISCERNMENT. David was profoundly convinced that "wisdom is the principal thing" (Proverbs 4:7), that everything is of inferior value to that. He saw clearly and felt strongly that he must induce his son Solomon to walk in the fear of the Lord, or even his brilliant prospects would come to nothing. For he knew:
1. That the fear of God was the living principle most likely to lead to temporal prosperity: he had proved that in the elevation of his own "house" and the rejection of that of Saul.
2. That no possible successes of an earthly kind would compensate for the loss of character: his own hour of disastrous folly had shown him that (2 Samuel 11:27).
3. That no circumstantial misfortunes could fatally injure a man who was right at heart with God: his own experience had illustrated that truth (Psalms 41:12). We shall be wise if we come to the same conclusions. Like David, we shall see that the outward and the visible, though they may be far more attractive and voiceful, are yet of far inferior account to the inward and the spiritual. We shall care immeasurably more for our children that they shall be wise in soul than prosperous in estate, "all glorious within" than magnificent without; we shall be tar more solicitous to see them "getting wisdom" (Proverbs 4:5) than "making money," "retaining the words" of truth (Proverbs 4:4) than gaining or keeping possession of lands and houses.
III. THE WAY OF WISDOM TOWARD THE YOUNG. If we, as parents, would walk wisely, so that we may attain our heart's desire concerning the children of our love and of our charge, we shall act as David did—we shall commend the truth God has taught us
There is a strain of parental tenderness of tone and energy of manner, as well as great fulness of utterance here. The same thought is presented, is repeated, is pressed on the reason and the conscience. David evidently yearned, strove, persisted with patient and resolute zeal, that he might convince and inspire his son with the sacred truths he held so dear.
He represented heavenly wisdom, the truth of God, as
1. To parents, the lesson of the text is
2. To sons and daughters, it is
The prudence of piety
We may say concerning piety or virtue—the wisdom which is from God includes both—that the essence of it is in right feeling, in loving him who is the Holy One and that which is the right and admirable thing, and in hating that which is evil and base; that the proof of it is in right acting—in going those things and those only which are good and honourable, which God's Word and our own conscience approve; and that the prudence of it is in these two things which are implied in our text.
I. CHERISHING A WHOLESOME HORROR OF THE CONSEQUENCES OF SIN. There is an insensibility and an ignorance which passes for courage, and gets a credit which is not its due. Those who do not take the trouble to know what the issues of any line of conduct are, and who go fearlessly forward, are not brave; they are only blind. We ought to know all we can learn of the consequences of our behaviour, of the end in which the path we are treading terminates. The prudent man wilt see and shrink from the consequences of evil; and if he open his eyes or consult those who can tell him, he will find that they are simply disastrous.
1. For sin is mischievous in its spirit; it gloats over the ruin which it works; it finds a horrible delight in doing harm to human souls (Proverbs 4:16, Proverbs 4:17).
2. And it succeeds in its shameful design. It does "mischief;" it makes men "to fall." It causes spiritual decline, decay, corruption—the worst of all mischief; it leads purity, sobriety, honesty, truthfulness, reverence, love, to fall down into the ruinous depths of lasciviousness, intemperance, dishonesty, falsehood, profanity, hard-heartedness.
3. It leads down to a darkness and a death of which it did not dream (Proverbs 4:19). It sinks into that awful soul-blindness in which the "eye is evil," in which the very "light is darkness" (Matthew 6:23), in which the moral judgment, all perverted, leads astray. "The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at what they stumble." Their powers of moral distinction are gone; they are "altogether gone astray." Piety, virtue, may well in godly prudence shrink with wholesome horror from this.
II. CAREFUL AVOIDANCE OF THE WAY OF THE WICKED, and so of the path of temptation.
1. True it is that we must be often found in perilous places at the call of daily duty.
2. True that at the invitation of mercy we shall sometimes be found there.
3. But it is also true that the wise will not needlessly expose themselves to the assaults of sin. They will refrain from so doing both because
Darkness and light
We have two perfect contrasts in these two verses—the path of the just and the way of the wicked; the one is very closely connected with light and the other with darkness.
I. SIN AND DARKNESS. (Proverbs 4:19.) We may say that:
1. Sin is darkness. It is
2. Sin spreads darkness
3. Sin leads to the ruin which attends darkness; it ends in making the sinner blind to the true character of his own transgressions: "They know not at what they stumble;" blind, also, to the final issue of his guilt: they know not into what they stumble—into what a "blackness of darkness."
II. WISDOM AND LIGHT. (Proverbs 4:18.) By "the just" in this verse we understand not particularly the man who is equitable in his dealings with his fellows, but the good and wise man—the man who, in the fear of God, seeks to act with rectitude in all his relations. This man is closely associated with the light.
1. Knowledge is light, and heavenly wisdom is the truest and best knowledge—that of God, and of the human soul, and of the path of eternal life.
2. That which reveals is light, and heavenly wisdom is the best and most beneficent revealing power. The wise, the "just" man is "making manifest" (see Ephesians 5:13) the highest, the most far-reaching, deep-descending truths. He does this
3. The light of the just man grows ever stronger and more illuminating: it "shineth more and more unto the perfect day." With added opportunities of inquiry and acquisition, with multiplied privileges, with more of Divine discipline, with increase of power resulting from the exercise of spiritual faculty, there is