My dear readers,

1. Are you travelling wisely? - II

The Trail Blazer! (Prov 30:31): A he-goat is noted for its strength and stateliness as it leads the flock onward. Scripture refers to leaders as he-goats (Dan 8:5, 21; Jer 50:8)! In every age there are plenty of followers, but how few leaders! Here is a message for every pastor charged with the duty to feed the flock of God... taking the oversight thereof ... willingly. Because such willing leadership is always costly, many play the coward here (Neh 3:5; Jon 1:3). It must be worthy leadership, not just for money or authority or selfish ends. The flock will follow the he-goat that has earned his place of respect, and so will a congregation. The he-goat was also a watchful leader. So God’s he-goat must be sober (self-controlled), vigilant (wakeful), watching for every advance of the devil in order to protect his flock. Paul makes the same appeal (Acts 20:28-31). Why, then, we may ask, are so many, in pastoral leadership today, closing their eyes to, and joining hands with, apostates?

The Triumph Bearer! (v 31) Here is a king who is comely in going. He is one against whom there is no rising up, because he has a band of soldiers or his people with him. He has their confidence and support. Therefore, he triumphs over all enemies. Has not God appointed us to be kings in His kingdom? How king-like, comely in going, are we? Paul calls it a kingdom of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. Are we striving to rule in righteousness before the world? The word "peace" is much talked of and much abused, but it is the peace of God alone that brings true peace to man. Are we proclaiming that peace faithfully in Christ’s Name (2 Cor 5:18)? The same can be said of the longing for joy, but sin has robbed the world of true joy. We must so rule for God that many will come to know the joy of the Lord that alone can satisfy the longings of the heart.

Wanted: God’s men to lead God’s people in God’s way! Lord of the harvest, send forth such labourers into Thy harvest.

2. In whom do you trust?

I pray God will grant us wisdom to see our own folly. "He that is of a proud heart stirreth up strife: but he that putteth his trust in the Lord shall be made fat. He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool: but whoso walketh wisely, he shall be delivered"(Prov 28:25-26).

There is a close relationship between these two verses. They describe two different trusts, and two very different results. The one trusts in the Lord and receives guidance and satisfaction, while the other trusts in his own heart and is a fool that brings grief to himself and others.

The Greatest Deceiver. He that is proud of heart is depicted as broad of soul. Now the heart can be enlarged in a good sense becoming filled with wisdom and understanding, as Solomon’s (1 Kings 4:29); or enlarged with love and affection for the souls of men, as was the apostle Paul’s (2 Cor 6:11). This is not so in the case before us (Prov 28:25a)! Here is a heart elevated with self-pride and greed. It is simply a covetous heart, puffed up with selfish ambition. In church he loves to have the pre-eminence (3 John 9) and, as a consequence, is forever stirring up strife, especially among the brethren (Prov 13:10). The other is called a fool (Prov 28:26a) because he trusts his own heart, which is to say that he believes an imposter, a traitor, and the greatest deceiver.

This is fiendish. This is not too strong a word. Do not fools prefer to trust the devil’s lie rather than God’s verdict? The Fall of man was no slight accident to be easily remedied. God has passed judgment on the heart of man because of sin. "And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually" (Gen 6:5).Again, in another place, God says, "Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil" (Eccles 8:11). Then recall Jeremiah’s words, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" (Jer 17:9).

This is foolish. Yet, here is such pride and folly that men are still prepared to trust the arch-deceiver, the devil, and their own hearts, which he controls! Surely it is the sheerest folly to follow hearts blinded by sin. The heart, however, is not only ignorant of itself, but it keeps man in ignorance about himself, and especially his state before God. Do not our hearts flatter us that it is well with our souls? Did not even Solomon’s heart deceive him in the end? How sadly did Peter fool himself when he trusted his heart!

How often in this book of Proverbs we have been reminded that self-trust is not only unwise, but also unnecessary. God has so made us that we must trust in something or someone. It is a sad commentary on human nature that if man will not worship the true God, he will make gods in his own sinful image and worship them, thereby degrading God while deifying man.

3. The Grandest Deliverer

Happily, we are not left to trust in ourselves, for that is a broken stick indeed. There is Someone infinitely better to trust in, and was not this the challenge that Solomon gave us when he said,"Trust in the LORD with all thine heart ... not unto thine own understanding" (Prov 3:5)? Do not these verses also give us an eternal perspective on this vital issue? Here is one who puts his trust in the Lord (Prov 28:25b), and another who is said to walk wisely (Prov 28:26b), and that means that he has begun to walk with God. Here, then, are men who have found "that all dependence upon feelings, impulse, native strength, sincere purpose or conviction — is vain confidence" (Bridges). They have found this out over the hard road of experience!

God’s Abounding Provision: Trust in God implies a knowledge of Him, recognition of His perfection and power, and His willingness and ability to sustain those who trust in Him. He shall be made fat. This is not, of course, a physical reference, but to the soul as a well-watered and flourishing tree. It is a fatness that administers comfort, peace, happiness, and inward satisfaction. How blessed, then, is the man or woman who trusts in the Lord!

God’s Abiding Protection: It is said that he who walks wisely shall be delivered (Prov 28:26b). The wise man now knows his limited vision, and his bias to sin. He knows too that only in the Lord will he find that wisdom that can be trusted. He follows God as his Eternal Pole-Star through life, however dark the night may sometimes be. He no longer trusts his own deceitful heart, but he is resting on the faithful promises, and the free grace of God. His feet have been solidly planted on the Rock (Ps 40:2) that can never be moved.

My dear readers, "Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the Lord our God"(Ps 20:7).

Yours faithfully in the Saviour’s Service,

Dr SH Tow, Sr Pastor