Proverbs 3:3 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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Proverbs 3:3

Comments

Mercy means in the Hebrew kindness and favour, and truth means stability, faithfulness. The Authorised Version translators have got it perfectly here. These are the things we value. If you wanted to sum up the word of God, what would you say? Mercy and truth. It is the mercy of God, the grace of God, that I can be saved, that I can be forgiven, that I can have a new life, and walk with him, by God's mercy alone.Previously what was put around the neck was a victor’s garland. Now it is a kind of necklace that is in mind, something which someone may put on. This necklace in all probability is a gift, it is rather like an engagement ring today. Somebody would give an engagement ring and the person will wear that ring to indicate that she is pledged to someone else, and the gift of a necklace indicated much the same in ancient times. So you wore the necklace and the effect of it was to warn off anybody else, I am pledged to the giver of this necklace. Mercy and truth must be worn like a necklace. God has given me mercy, and saved my soul, and washed away my sin, and opened my eyes to the truth of his word. Now I am going to wear that like a necklace, in that I am not going to keep it a secret that I am loyal to him. In my family, in my place of business, in my place of study, people will know I am the Lord's, I love him, I serve him. I will talk often about it, I will talk about my church, I will talk about the gospel. Look at the way this sentence is constructed, it is intriguing: ‘Let not mercy and truth forsake thee.’ The implication is that there are things I can do that will cause the mercy and truth of God to withdraw from me. There are things which I can do to drive God away. What are they? Well, obviously I can lose my appreciation for the word of God, I can stop humbly praising God for grace, begin on the backslider’s way, and grieve the Spirit, and these things will be withdrawn from me so that I lose my enjoyment of the conscious mercy of God. It does not mean that I have lost my salvation; it means I can no longer drink from the word of God, and its pleasures and its instruction. So God withdraws from us when we walk unworthily. Do not let that happen. Do not cause the conscious blessing of God's mercy upon you, and the understanding of his word, to be shut off from you because of some sin, or because of indifference.

Application

Here are other conditions which must be honoured if we would seek deepening of character and insight, perception, wisdom. Here are the conditions. Mercy and truth, which means here faithfulness, must never leave us. All our thinking must be dominated by mercy and truth. If it is not, what happens is this: the way we look at life is blighted immediately. Every problem we encounter is taken too seriously. Every difficulty is faced as though it is entirely up to us to get through it. Every injustice hurts us, wounds us. So immediately we become self-dependent and we become people who are subject to self-pity, to anxiety and all those things are enemies of wisdom. If only I can keep mercy and truth in mind, then instead of becoming petty in my outlook, I shall be more than conqueror, I shall have a broader outlook, I shall be resilient and capable of taking knocks. I shall never lose sight of the fact that I am a privileged child of God with the promises and the faithfulness of God flowing towards me all the time. Now you see that is essential to wisdom.

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Proverbs 3:3 Commentary and Bible Study