Proverbs 15:23

Proverbs 15:23

I. It is of importance to take notice of that habit which is opposed to the duty for which the text contends; I mean the habit of reserve. It would be a grievous mistake to suppose that this habit is wholly a bad one. But the important point to notice is, that the reaction against the counterfeit of devotion is likely to rob us of what was intended by God to be a true aid to devotion. How often have we seen persons of the greatest ability, and the purest hearts, who yet darednot produce what was in them, because they saw other persons to be insincerely and offensively doing the same. This reserve is incomparably superior to a frivolous superficial interchange of religious experiences; but it is far inferior to Christian simplicity. It does not represent the spirit of Paul or John, or of great reformers, or of the most heroic characters. It certainly does not represent the mind of Christ.

II. "A word spoken in due season, how good is it!" (1) There is the word of warning; (2) the word of encouragement; (3) the word of sympathy; (4) the word of congratulation; (5) the word of explanation and apology. To be in any sense "a son of consolation," to be able to make life a little sweeter for others, good a little easier, evil a little more hated and despised, this would be a high privilege for the oldest as well as the youngest among us. Words can do much in this Christian work. Think of the blessing involved in these words of Isaiah, "The Lord God hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary." If God has not given to each of us the tongue of the learned, He has given to each, if we will but use it, the tongue of truth, of kindness, of purity, of sympathy. There are many, who are "weary" of other sounds, who would gladly listen to sounds like these.

H. M. Butler, Harrow Sermons,p. 217.

References: Proverbs 15:23. H. J. Wilmot Buxton, The Children's Bread,pp. 49, 56. Proverbs 15:33. Clergyman's Magazine,vol. ii., p. 10; W. Arnot, Laws from Heaven,2nd series, p. 45; Spurgeon, Evening by Evening,p. 96. Proverbs 16:1. R. Wardlaw, Lectures on Proverbs,vol. ii., p. 65.