Proverbs 17
Many have had occasion to prove the truth of verse 1, and of verse 3, each in its season.
Verse 3 shows the purpose of trial, sometimes grievous to the believer: it is to purge away the dross. (See 1 Peter 1:5-7).
There are certain marks of evildoers, and quite different characteristics of those who are wise, who fear God, and these marks and characteristics are plainly set forth in the Proverbs. Verse 4: The evildoer gives heed to iniquitous lips; the liar gives ear to a mischievous tongue. Verse 20: He that hath a froward (perverse) heart findeth no good. Verse 10: A reproof entereth more (deeply) into a wise (or understanding) man, than a hundred stripes into a fool, and verse 27: He that hath knowledge spareth his words, and a man of under standing is of an excellent (or cool) spirit.
Verse 9: “He that covereth transgression seeketh love,” tells of a trait of character much to be admired, yet the thought of our blessed God who has found, at infinite cost, a way to cover sin and forgive transgression (Psalm 32:1,2), leads us to consider that which shall fill our hearts forever,—His amazing grace.
Verse 17 tells what a friend is: and a true brother a good thing for us each to remember for application to our own selves, for where we fail is that some thing comes in between us and our friend, and the love that was there fades away. Of but one Friend, our Saviour God, is it true that He loves us at all times.
Verse 20: “He that hath a perverse heart findeth no good” seems to fit those who scoff at the Bible and at Christians. They never find any good, and they continue to spend money for that which is not bread (Isaiah 55:2), and their labor for that which does not satisfy.
Verses 2, 21 and 25 speak of sons who cause shame, fools, in the language of Scripture.
How many a parent since Solomon has had grief and bitterness over a son or daughter who rejected the earnest counsels abundantly given, and lived for folly. Any such sorrowing parents who may read these lines, the writer would affectionately commend to God, that their prayers and supplications might be constantly ascending to Him, making request that in His own time, and by His own way, the wanderer may be brought back.
Messages of God’s Love 7/17/1932