‏ Proverbs 2

* Promises to those who seek wisdom. (1-9) The advantages of

wisdom. (10-22)

1-9 Those who earnestly seek heavenly wisdom, will never

complain that they have lost their labour; and the freeness of

the gift does not do away the necessity of our diligence, #Joh

6:27|. Let them seek, and they shall find it; let them ask, and

it shall be given them. Observe who are thus favoured. They are

the righteous, on whom the image of God is renewed, which

consists in righteousness. If we depend upon God, and seek to

him for wisdom, he will enable us to keep the paths of judgment. 10-22 If we are truly wise, we shall be careful to avoid all

evil company and evil practices. When wisdom has dominion over

us, then it not only fills the head, but enters into the heart,

and will preserve, both against corruptions within and

temptations without. The ways of sin are ways of darkness,

uncomfortable and unsafe: what fools are those who leave the

plain, pleasant, lightsome paths of uprightness, to walk in such

ways! They take pleasure in sin; both in committing it, and in

seeing others commit it. Every wise man will shun such company.

True wisdom will also preserve from those who lead to fleshly

lusts, which defile the body, that living temple, and war

against the soul. These are evils which excite the sorrow of

every serious mind, and cause every reflecting parent to look

upon his children with anxiety, lest they should be entangled in

such fatal snares. Let the sufferings of others be our warnings.

Our Lord Jesus deters from sinful pleasures, by the everlasting

torments which follow them. It is very rare that any who are

caught in this snare of the devil, recover themselves; so much

is the heart hardened, and the mind blinded, by the

deceitfulness of this sin. Many think that this caution, besides

the literal sense, is to be understood as a caution against

idolatry, and subjecting the soul to the body, by seeking any

forbidden object. The righteous must leave the earth as well as

the wicked; but the earth is a very different thing to them. To

the wicked it is all the heaven they ever shall have; to the

righteous it is the place of preparation for heaven. And is it

all one to us, whether we share with the wicked in the miseries

of their latter end, or share those everlasting joys that shall

crown believers?