Posted on 03/21/2022 9:55:34 PM PDT by Pilgrim's Progress
“By humility and the fear of the LORD are riches, and honour, and life. Thorns and snares are in the way of the froward: he that doth keep his soul shall be far from them” (Proverbs 22:4-5).
Sometimes in this life, all the time in the next life. If a man follows God, and has faith in God, the Bible tells us that are trials are priceless: “That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ” (I Peter 1:7). If a man is humble, and trusts God, and believes God, and trusts in God for his needs—and he fears God—that is great riches and honor, and of course it is going to be everlasting life for the man that humbles himself, fears the wrath of God, and turns to Christ for pardon.
“Thorns and snares are in the way of the froward,” what this simply means is that trouble is coming. If a man’s ways are crooked or perverse, he’s headed for trouble, he’s seeking death, he is just looking for a bad end— “thorns and snares.”
God puts those “thorns and snares” there. Over here is old Ahab. He has just killed Naboth for his vineyard. He is just about to go over there and possess it and take ownership of it. He is about to go relish over it and revel in his gain. And here comes along the prophet. All of a sudden, the sweet taste of victory is turned bitter. He is staring into “thorns and snares.” That prophet looked straight into his face and rebuked him for his sin and told him of his impending death.
“. . . he that doth keep his soul shall be far from them,” in other words, if you keep your soul right, stay in the Word of God, you’ll stay out of a lot of trouble. That is just good, plain advice.
Finally,
“The final test of our lives will not be how much we have lived but how we have lived; not how tempestuous our lives have been, but how much bigger, better and stronger these trials have left us; not how much money, fame or fortune we have laid up here on earth, but how many treasures we have laid up in Heaven!”
— Megiddo Message
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