The Pulpit Commentary — Proverbs — Section 93

. Ver~. 11,_ 12.- Wrong views of af!,iction, an~ the right one. Sorrow is a v~ry large rngred1ent m the cup of human hte. It begms so early and lasts so long; 1t lies so near the surface and it strikes so deep into our nature; it is so certain that we shall meet with it before long, and so likely that we may renew our acquaintance with it very soon, that they must be unwise indeed who do not prepare for its coming, and they must be losers indeed who do not know how to treat it when it knocks at their door. '!'here are-- I. MANY MISTAKES WE MAY MAKE ABOUT IT. 1. We may treat it thoughtlessly· we may "despise the chastening of the Lord" (ver.11). We may allow ourselves t~ have "the sorrow of the world," of which Paul speaks (2 Cor. vii. 10) ; i.e. we may decline to consider what it means; content ourselves with the sullen thought that we have something that we must endure as best we can, not attempting to discover whence it comes or what it means. 2. We may conclude that it is only accidental. This is another way of "despising the chastening of the Lord." We may take that view which is intellectually the most easy and spiritually the most barren, and refer our trouble to the "course of events;" we may recognize no guiding hand, we may decide, with off-handed readiness, that we are the unhappy victims of unkind circumstances, and go on our way "grinding our teeth" with impatient spirit. 3. We may be crushed under the weight of it. Vve may (to use the words in Heh. xii. 5) "faint when we are rebuked." We may suffer a spiritual collapse, may meet affliction with an unmanly spirit of prostration, and, instead of bending bravely beneath the yoke and bearing it, break down utterly and miserably. 4. We may repine under long continu- ance of it. We may "be weary" of God's correction. Sometimes, when allliction i~ long-continued, men feel that either God has nothing to do with them at all, or that he is not regarding their prayer, or that he is punishing them above that whicll Liley are able to bear, and they repine; they are weary in their spirit, querulous in their tone, perhaps positively complaining in their speech. But there is- II. THE ONE HIGHT WAY IN WHICH To TAKE IT. And that is to accept it as the eorrection offatherly kindness. "For whom the Lord loveth he correcteth," etc. (ver. 12). 1. We may be God's unreconciled ~hildren, and he is seeking _to win us to himself. 2. Or we may have returned to him, but need fatherly correction. He may be rebuking us for some departure from his will. He may be desirous of removing the spirit of pride or of selfis~1;1ess, _or of worl?liness, :1-nd of. leading us along paths of humility, self-surrender, spmtuahty. Certamly he IS seeking our truest welfare, our highest good, our lasting joy. Let each afflicted heart ask-What is the lesson the Father wishes me to learn ?-C. - Vers. 13-26.- Wisdom's inestimable worth. Here are found many strong recommen- dations of heavenly wisdom, and we might adopt tho thirteenth verse as a refrain to each one of them: "Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that gettoth understanding." I. PoBSEBSORB OF IT, WE ARE 8HABEII0LDERB WITH Goo IIIMBELF. (Vers. 19, 20.) Only by wisdom could the Divine Founder of all visible things make_thcm what thoy C!ll, III, 1-85.] THE PROVERBS. 81