Proverbs 19:24 Commentary and Bible Study

This proverb shows us man’s desperate need for God’s correction and the extremes of foolish behaviour that he must be cured of if he is not to perish in unbelief. The same proverb appears in chapter 26:15, where the subject is foolishness, but here we should think about how to correct it.The human condition is indeed desperate spiritually. God’s sets before us in the gospel all that we need to deliver us from death and hell, the rightful eternal punishment of our sin, but like a man who cannot be bothered to even lift his hand from his plate to his mouth to feed himself, we ignore all that he says to us. For all, the irresistible grace of the Holy Spirit must work in the heart, but for some the soul must be placed in deep waters before they are stirred to respond to the goodness of God and the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Here is someone who does not have the sense to see that in order to satisfy his deep hunger he must eat. How can he be taught what seems like common sense? Only by God placing great fears in his heart maybe, or bring him into dire straits. No wonder then that Psalm 107 describes four different type of extremity that God places the soul in before it will respond. We are so dead to our spiritual dangers that in some cases extreme measures are needed to wake us up.