Posted on 10/21/2019 5:11:22 AM PDT by Pilgrim's Progress
“An high look, and a proud heart, and the plowing of the wicked, is sin” (Proverbs 21:4).
Here are the kind of people that bring the wrong kind of sacrifices mentioned in the previous verse: “To do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice.”
What was Cain’s problem? He just wouldn’t bring the right sacrifice, would he? It wasn’t a matter of sacrifice here, he certainly brought more to the altar than Abel did. Cain had brought all the fruit of the labor of his hands, he certainly worked hard to produce them. Abel hadn’t done a thing other than raise the sheep—that was God’s work. Abel brought the lazy man’s sacrifice. Cain worked hard on that crop, but God wasn’t interested in the works of a man’s hands but the content of a man’s heart.
“An high look, and a proud heart, and the plowing of the wicked, is sin.” Just plain, everyday common work is sin: “And if thou wilt make me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stone: for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it” (Exodus 20:25). This is why there is absolutely nothing that you or I can do in the flesh to please God, because we are doing it with the flesh. It is touched by corrupt hands. Michelangelo himself could not build an altar that would be pleasing to God.
“An high look, and a proud heart, and the plowing of the wicked, is sin.” This is hard on men, because they are all so proud of their works. That’s the difference between how man looks at it, and God looks at it. It is just as 21:2 says, “Every work of man is right in his own eyes,” it is the product of pride.
“An high look, and a proud heart, and the plowing of the wicked, is sin.” Solomon deals with that subject of the proud heart in chapter 6. It was one of the seven abominations to God. It is abominable to God because it justifies and exalts man and denies the exaltation of God. God hates that.
Let’s read a chapter of Proverbs a day and see what God might have for us. As the Lord leads, share with us what God has shown you in a special way and by His grace let us build up a devotional repository. Let’s keep our knives and forks handy for some daily bread!
If anyone would like to be added to the ping list, please let me know either by post or by p.m.
I don’t understand the “plowing of the wicked?” To me that would seem acceptable .
Solomon condemned the plowing of the wicked. Even natural and apparently innocent activities that are duties of God and nature become sin when done by a man with a wicked heart. Following a plow, a duty of man to feed himself, is sin when it is done by a wicked man.
Every activity of man must be done to God’s glory, which the wicked never consider (I Corinthians 10:31; Psalm 10:4). Every activity must be done in faith, which the wicked do not have (Rom 14:23; II Thessalonians 3:2). Every activity must include thanksgiving, which they never consider (Romans 1:21; II Timothy 3:2). So even their breathing becomes a breath of damnation.
Look at it like this. God only accepts perfection from man. Apart from grace and the covering of Christ’s blood upon the repentant sinner - man is fully exposed in his natural state, which is at enmity with God. Anything an unsaved man does is sinful in the eyes of our perfect God.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.