Proverbs 1:31 Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices. It is to let us punish ourselves. In this way man is led by bitter experience to see his own folly and God's wisdom. When we will not be guided by God He grants all our wishes and desires to show us how foolish and miserable they are. When a man is "cursed with every granted prayer" he learns by bitter experience that it is possible to be his own worst enemy. His long-indulged desires become tyrannical tormentors. The promises of God are conditional. He will give us good things if we will do our part; but not if we neglect it, or do the contrary to it. God has given us the dignity of freedom, which involves the terrible possibility of disobeying His commands. It is the best thing for the thoughtless and careless to be let alone of God. Those who look back over their lives can trace most of their errors to the fact that they have tried to take themselves, so to speak, away from the guidance of God. Within the man who delights in sin, and loves darkness rather than light, there is a hell of his own making, from which he cannot depart any more than from himself. Only those who are beyond reformation, and who have altogether decided for the devil, God in this way leaves alone to be creatures of their own appetites and the prey of their sins. On others God inflicts sharp discipline in order to make them like Himself. (E. J. Hardy.) Parallel Verses KJV: Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.WEB: Therefore they will eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own schemes. |
    |