PROFITING FROM PROVERBS

“He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy. Happy is the man that feareth alway: but he that hardeneth his heart shall fall into mischief” (Proverbs 28:13-14).

Verses 13 and 14 go together. “He that covereth his sins,” like Adam (Genesis 3) with fig leaves, “shall not prosper.” God said, “Adam, where are you?” Adam didn’t prosper, God rebuked him and then took them off and gave him the animal skins.

This is a good verse to memorize. “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them,” A lot of people are confessing, confessing, confessing, and never really forsake them.

There's a two-fold repentance after we are saved. Two parts to repentance. You confess them, and you turn from them. Now, you may not conquer them immediately, but each time you do it, you confess it and you turn from it again. You keep turning from it until you get away from it. Just like when you were tempted to do it, you kept going to it, and you built up that habit, and that way, in your life. to get rid of it, you keep turning away from it until you finally get away from it. Until you get it all out of your heart. Sometimes it takes years. It took years to build that thing up. And yet, thank God for this:

“If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (I John 1:8-9).

“Happy is the man that feareth alway: but he that hardeneth his heart shall fall into mischief.”

“Happy is the man that feareth alway,” now, why would a man confess and forsake his sins? Fear. Fear of God’s judgment. A guy that is covered in sins has no fear of God; “happy is the man that feareth alway.” Why is he happy? His guilt is gone. No judgment. You can't be happy until you're confessing and forsaking sinsk and you can't be happy unless there's really fear in your life. That's contrary to modern psychology. They want to remove all fear.

“. . . but he that hardeneth his heart shall fall into mischief,” like Pharaoh (Exodus 4:21). Fear is good.

“Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling” (Psalms 2:11).

“The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether” (Psalms 19:9).

Fear is just a good motive: “By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith” (Hebrews 11:7). Fear is a good motive to keep you happy.

Daily Bible study is necessary if we are going to begin our day with the right attitude and the right spiritual diet. Proverbs has 31 chapters, and most months have 31 days, so 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! Ideally, a chapter or two of Proverbs will fit in nicely with a good plan of reading our Bibles through each year.

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