Lord’s Day, Vol. 11 No. 47
The Reward of Piety (Proverbs 3:1-10)
INTRODUCTION
The Christian life is so blessed and wonderful you have to live it to experience it. How do you receive this blessing? The writer of Proverbs tells us in these 10 verses, entitled “The Rewards of Piety”.
Here the writer tells us the fruits of embracing wisdom. He tells us that walking with God has its rich rewards. Please take a moment to consider and ponder over them. Would you not want to experience these blessings from God? How do they come about?
We learned in Chapter 1 the importance of embracing God’s wisdom, the dire consequences of rejecting it, and the complete safety that comes with following it.
In Chapter 2, we are taught how we can receive wisdom from God – by the deep study and meditation upon God’s Word with prayer. When God’s Word comes to our hearts and becomes a guiding principle in our lives, we have the grace to keep away from evil, say no to sin and walk uprightly, the supernatural strength that God gives to live above the filth of the world. The writer closes the chapter with a grave warning in verse 22 “But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it.”
God Himself will see to it. Every time we see the rainbow, we are reminded of the global flood and how the wicked were cut off and the transgressors were rooted out but Noah and his family of eight survived, who found grace in the sight of God and were safe from the global destruction. What was the secret?
(1) The Reward of Obedience – life and peace (v1-2)
1 My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep (stand up for them – know, love, live, defend) my commandments (His orders): 2 For length of days, and long life (years of life), and peace, shall they add to thee.
My son, forget not my law – the word “forget” means to lose or mislay something. In this case, it is to lose or mislay not just an earthly father’s law but the law of the Heavenly Father. And the sense of the text is not so much a failed memory but a wilful forgetting. It describes one who renounces God’s law with a deliberate effort. “Do not do that” is the father’s warning and urging to the son. The word “law” is the “Torah”, the Book of the Law, the first 5 books of Moses, the cryptic name for the Scriptures, God’s Word. But let thine heart keep my commandments. In English, there is no such emphasis as a command. But in Hebrew and Greek, there is this aspect of grammar called the mode – that describes the writer’s attitude toward the action reflected by the mood – the indicative mood is simply a statement of action, the subjunctive mood is the possibility, the optative mood is a request for action, but the imperative mood is a demand for action – it imposes a demand upon the will to do an action, this demand is presented in the form of a command or commandment. In the imperative, we have no option it is a command to obey. God’s commandments are His orders. He ordered Noah to build the ark. It is a command for His blessings because the world will be judged with a global flood there is no escape except in the ark.
The father is saying here to the son to not lay aside His teaching but to stand up for them. That is the meaning of the word – to know, to live, to defend it. It is an urging to obedience. With the encouragement of obedience comes the reward of life and peace. Truly, when the ark was built Noah and his sons and his daughters-in-law entered the ark. Pitter, patter, pitter, patter came to the rain and the rain did not stop for the fountain of the deep was opened and the canopy of water that covered the earth was broken and water poured on the earth till all the mountains were covered with water and all the living died. But for Noah and his family, it was safety in the ark while the water ravaged the earth.
It is said in Genesis 6:22 “Thus did Noah according to all that God commanded him, so did he.
Genesis 7:22-24 “All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died. And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark. And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days.”
Genesis 8:1-6 “And God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that was with him in the ark: and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters asswaged; The fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained; And the waters returned from off the earth continually: and after the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters were abated. And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat. And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month: in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, were the tops of the mountains seen. And it came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made” … Genesis 8:10-11 “And he stayed yet other seven days; and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark; And the dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf pluck off: so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth.”
The olive leaf and the dove are symbols of peace. Indeed, God’s peace was upon Noah and his family.
(2) Reward of Benevolence & Righteousness – Favour with God and man (v3-4)
3 Let not mercy (faithfulness, loyalty, kindness, fidelity, goodness, devotion, steadfast – love) and truth (accuracy, reliability, dependability, firmness) forsake thee: bind them (so as not to forsake them) about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart: 4 So shalt thou find favour and good understanding in the sight of God and man.
Again, here we find a command and a promise of reward – the reward of benevolence and righteousness is favour with God and man.
The truth is bound up in the law of God. The binding of God’s mercy and truth around our necks is a metaphor to describe the need to keep them closely with us and to write them upon our hearts. Binding something such as love, faithfulness or teaching around the neck depicts keeping it near one’s heart and in one’s thoughts (Prov. 3:3).
Mercy is defined like this in Webster’s dictionary –
That benevolence, mildness or tenderness of heart which disposes a person to overlook injuries, or to treat an offender better than he deserves; the disposition that tempers justice, and induces an injured person to forgive trespasses and injuries, and to forbear punishment, or inflict less than law or justice will warrant. In this sense, there is perhaps no word in our language precisely synonymous with mercy. That which comes nearest to it is grace. It implies benevolence, tenderness, mildness, pity or compassion, and clemency, but exercised only towards offenders. Mercy is a distinguishing attribute of the Supreme Being. This is the compassionate attribute of God.
Benevolence and righteousness are a potent combination for success in life – the reward of it – favour with God and man.
Proverbs 16:13 “Righteous lips are the delight of kings; and they love him that speaketh right.”
Proverbs 22:11 “He that loveth pureness of heart, for the grace of his lips the king shall be his friend.”
The Bible tells us how Joseph, Samuel and Jesus grow in favour with God and men – what is the secret? Let love and God’s Word never leave you, bind them around your neck and write them on the tablet of your heart. The Bible tells us how Joseph, Samuel, and Jesus grew in favour of God and men. What is their secret? Keep love and God’s Word close to your heart, bind them around your neck, and write them on the tablet of your heart.
1 Samuel 2:26 “And the child Samuel grew on, and was in favour both with the LORD, and also with men.”
1 Samuel 3:18-19 “And Samuel told him every whit, and hid nothing from him. And he said, It is the LORD: let him do what seemeth him good. And Samuel grew, and the LORD was with him, and did let none of his words fall to the ground.”
Genesis 39:2-3 “And the LORD was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian. And his master saw that the LORD was with him, and that the LORD made all that he did to prosper in his hand.”
Genesis 39:6 “And he left all that he had in Joseph’s hand; and he knew not ought he had, save the bread which he did eat. And Joseph was a goodly person, and well favoured.”
When he was seduced by his master Potiphar’s wife, he came off clean. God blessed him for he respected his master’s wife though he was wrongly accused by his master.
Genesis 39:21 “But the LORD was with Joseph, and shewed him mercy, and gave him favour in the sight of the keeper of the prison.”
(3) The Reward of Faithfulness is Guidance (v5-6)
5 Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. 6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
The command to faith by taking God at His Word brings the reward of God’s guidance. Sinful man leans on his own understanding, lives by his own strength, boasts of his own deeds and claims to be master of his own fate. But the man of God waits upon his God as David said in Psalm 62:2, “My soul, wait thou only upon God, for my expectation is from him.”
Solomon says at the end of his life, “vanity of vanities, all is vanity, there is no profit under the sun.” He experienced and found that the world’s wisdom wanting, inadequate, does not satisfy. So, he charges the young – Remember thy Creator in the days of thy youth.
(4) The Reward of Humility is Health and Strength (v7-8)
7 Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil. 8 It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones.
Be not wise in thine own eyes – resist every prideful thought.
Fear the LORD – Have a reverential fear of God and be separated from evil.
The word health means “sewing together” that which is torn and marrow to thy bones is the figure for renewing, reviving, refreshing our whole being.
(5) The Reward of Giving to God is Wealth and Abundance (v9-10)
9 Honour the LORD with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase: 10 So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.
There are those who love money and horde money, there are those who squander money. Some use it selfishly and some will kill for it.
We are to remember what our Lord said in Mark 10:29-30 “And Jesus answered and said, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel’s, But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life.”
Malachi 3:10 “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.”
2 Corinthians 9:6-7 “But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.”
CONCLUSION
There is much blessings to be received in following the LORD – the reward of obedience is life and peace, the reward of benevolence and righteousness is favour with God and man, the reward of faithfulness is guidance, the reward of humility is health and strength, the reward of giving to God is wealth and abundance. May the LORD strengthen His people to take hold of His Word and live it for His glory.
Yours lovingly,
Pastor Lek Aik Wee