The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, That one may avoid the snares of death. Proverbs 14:27

Ours is a society that craves safety. Some think that carrying a gun at all times or having a top notch security system will provide them safety. But for the man of God these things, although providing some measure of safety are nothing compared to the fear of the Lord. According to today's proverb that is the most effective security system known to mankind.

The fear of the Lord is described here as a fountain of life. The Hebrew words used for the phrase, "fountain of life" are "mekor chaiyim." This phrase literally means, "the vein of lives" and referred to the aorta which is the artery which carries the blood from the heart as it seeks to pump it throughout the entire body. Without our aorta we would be dead. I remember a very terrifying moment when my own father was found to have a seven inch long annuerism on his aorta. It was a life threatening condition of the worst kind. If my father's aorta burst - the very fountain of life in him would be cut off - and he would have died within seconds. The medical staff were able to do surgery and repair his aorta. But it was a reminder to me that without the "vein of lives" functioning, we will not live long. I am not saying that without the fear of the Lord we will die in mere seconds, but I am saying that the fear of the Lord is essential to us having the life that God provides. Here in today's proverb we read that the fear of the Lord is what helps us to avoid the snares of death. What are these "snares" that are mentioned here?

The Hebrew word for "snares" is very telling. The word is "moqesh" and it refers not so much to the snare itself, but to the bait which is placed in the snare. The word literally means the bait placed within a snare or trap - without which the animal would never come near it. It is the bait that makes the trap effective. The bait tempts the animal to come near even when his own instincts tell him the situation is dangerous. Unable to quell his own lusts for the free food, the animal draws near. The end is a trapped or dead animal. This parallels our problem with sin. Our desires draw us toward things that will eventually damage and destroy us. But we cannot seem to shake the lusts of our flesh, eyes, and prideful love of the world enough to turn away. We are bllind due to our sin. But this is where the fear of the Lord becomes a life-giving fountain to us.

The fear of the Lord is the respect and honor that we have of Him and of His Word. It is the willingness to respond to the Holy Spirit when He warns us about something we are about to do. We listen and obey when we fear the Lord - but we ignore Him when we have no repect or honor toward the God who made us. For those who do this, there is only death in the end. They may have an initial experience of pleasure in their sinful choice - but be warned that they will stand in the judgment for their actions. Any sinful action will be eternally regretted on that day. But know also that sinful choices, although their poison may not be felt immediately - also have consequences here and now as well.

Today's society, and unfortunately many in the church, think that the fear of the Lord is a thing of the past. They ignorantly say that we are a people of grace in the New Testament. The Old Testament idea of fearing God is out of step with who we are supposed to be. What I find interesting is that the book of Acts tells us that the church benefited greatly from the fear of the Lord. In Acts 9:31 we read the following, "So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria enjoyed peace, being built up; and going on in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it continued to increase. " The fear of God is a New Testament truth that will bless God's church. In fact the fear of the Lord is linked here with the "comfort of the Holy Spirit." It was the combination of these two that worked together by God's grace to cause the church to increase. But there is one more thing that will bless us as we look at the proverb for today.

The fear of the Lord is said to be a "fountain of life." There is another parallel that is such a blessing to see here. In John chapter 7 Jesus spoke of the way that the Holy Spirit would come to those who believed in Him. He used the picture of fountains of living water that would flow from the innermost being of those who experienced the ministry of the Holy Spirit. This is what we have learned today in Proverbs. It is another way that the Holy Spirit is linked directly to the fear of the Lord. We need to realize that one of the ways that the Holy Spirit works in our lives is to bring us the fear of the Lord. We have a respect for God - a desire to honor Him and not to displease Him. This makes us very receptive to His Word which tells us what He wants us to know. Both are the same fountain. As we fear God the Holy Spirit works in us to teach us God's Word - and then to urge us to listen and respond to what God has said. All this comes together to turn us from the snare - from the bait of Satan which seeks to lure us into His traps and his snares of death. May God give us grace to fear Him - to experience the Holy Spirit's teaching and warning - and to avoid sin as a result.

What the wicked fears will come upon him, But the desire of the righteous will be granted. When the whirlwind passes, the wicked is no more, But the righteous has an everlasting foundation.   Proverbs 10:24-25

There is a fear that the wicked have at the end of their lives - and it is a fear that will come upon them.  Though they spend their days mocking God and living as they choose, they come to the end of their lives facing the same reality anyone does.  That reality is that they are going to die - just like anyone else.  They forget this during their youth and even in their adult years - but then sickness and the day of their death comes near.  It is in these moments that we see that even the most strident atheist or agnostic have to face their fears concerning death.  We read of the wicked, that what they fear WILL come upon them.  They are going to die - and there is a fear of what is on the other side of death.

This begs the question, "What is on the other side of death?"  For the wicked man, he is hoping either that God is as immoral as He is or that God does not exist at all.  For the tolerance-god the hope is that whatever god there may be that he or she has no standards.  This god usually only has one intolerance - and that is for anyone to have intolerance.  Everyone makes it into the afterlife.  The other option is that there is no god - and that when we die - we just die.  There is nothing after death.  We just cease to exist.  If either of these scenarios are true - the wicked man has nothing to fear.  But we read that what he fears comes upon him.  What is he fearing?  The wicked man fears that there is a God - a holy God like the one presented by the Scriptures.  He fears that the urgings of his conscience were right - that there are standards he is breaking.  His ultimate fear is that there is indeed a recompense for these wrongs.

These fears will be realized.  That is what our proverb today tells us.  Later in the next verse we read that when the whirlwind passes - the wicked is no more.  The whirlwind is a testing.  What it is testing is what foundation a person has.  We would call a whirlwind a tornado in Arkansas.  When this whirlwind comes - the foundation of the wicked man will reveal that he cannot stand that testing - that judgment if you will accept it.

This passage has a counterpart in Scripture - and in all honesty it is one that is terrifying when you realize it.  In the book of Job a conversation was going on between Job and three of his friends.  They said that Job was wicked and that was why his troubles came upon him.  Job held fast to his righteousness - but made the mistake of questioning God's wisdom in what was happening to him.  In the end, God Himself came to address Job personally.  When God did this guess how He chose to reveal Himself?  If you guessed in a whirlwind, you guessed right.  God came to a moment of truth with Job by coming in a whirlwind.  He then questioned Job extensively about the whole idea of wisdom.  When it was over Job withdrew all of his comments and repented in dust and ashes.  God then blessed Job for his faithfulness - and called his friends to account for their rash and improper words about Job.  Now, let us bring this event into focus on our proverb today.  When the whirlwind comes - the wicked are no more.  The judgment will reveal their faulty foundation - and they will be swept away in judgment.  If a godly Job could not stand when the whirlwind came with God's presence and His withering questioning - what hope do the wicked have of being able to stand in that day.

The proverb for today leaves a wonderful hope for the righteous though.  Their desire will be granted - and their foundation will stand.  This begs another question.  What is that desire?  What is that foundation?  Biblically the only man who will be righteous is the one who gets this way by faith.  Righteousness is not given to a man by his works.  The only way a man can be righteous before God is by faith in what God will provide, from an OT view, and what God has provided, from a NT one.  God's promise in the Old Testament was that Messiah would come.  He would come first as a suffering servant - as the lamb slain for sin.  In the New Testament we meet Messiah.  He is Jesus Christ, Who came to pay for our sins to make us righteous in God's sight.  The hope of the righteous is that God will fulfill His promise.  The desire of the righteous will be realized as his foundation stands firm.  As the sand foundations of this world crumble – the foundation of Jesus Christ, crucified, buried, and resurrected from the dead will stand.  So the final question for today is simply this, “Are you resting on that foundation?”

The mouth of an adulteress is a deep pit; He who is cursed of the LORD will fall into it. Proverbs 22:14

Here is a take in Proverbs that turns conventional wisdom on its ear.  It has to do with the adulteress - and with the man who seems to be having all the so-called success with the ladies.  Whereas the world wants us to think that this ladies man has it made - the Word of God here in Proverbs has a much different take on his status. 

The adulteress, as we've learned in previous verses (5:3 and 7:5) catches men with her mouth.  Her enticing words draws them in - and prevents them from seeing that they are not stepping into pure pleasure - but rather a trap.  Here, in keeping with the previous warnings, is another statement that her mouth is a deep pit.  Such pits where used for capturing animals and killing or making them slaves of the one who caught them.  These pits were usually covered with camouflage to make their presence unknown until the animal stepped into them.  By that time it was too late - they were either caught or dead.  The same is true of the adulteress.  She will hide her real intent with compliments and appeals to the ego of the fool she is trying to catch.  He, being a fool, does not see the danger in another man's wife giving him praise.  In the end, he falls for the deception and later falls into the trap.  This is not new to us - but the fact that now for at least the third time a warning is given about this should make us very cautious when a woman other than our wife begins giving us compliments and starts stroking our ego.

What I find shocking about this passage is the second statement made here.  "He who is cursed of Jehovah will fall there."  The reason that this is shocking is because we are told that one of the ways we can know that God has cursed someone - is that they are involved in sexual immorality - and even more so - that they are so involved in an adulterous affair.  The world shows us the quintisential ladies man - and then says to us that this man is blessed.  He has the ladies lining up for him.  We are told that he can have any woman he wants - and that this is a sign of being blessed.  The truth is much different - as it always is when it comes to the lies of the world and of Satan.  Contrary to this worldly view - the man who is involved in sexual immorality with someone else's wife - is cursed of God.  This is one of the ways that God brings His curse upon men.  He allows them to enter into such foolish sexual sin. 

Think about this for a moment.  Since this is true - then we should consider the sexual studs of the world - stupid.  We should look at the playboys that are held up for honor and respect - men who are worthy only of shame and disgrace.  We should see men like High Hefner not as models for us - but as morons.  This are not men of honor - but examples of horror!  The man who falls into sexual immorality is CURSED OF GOD!  Wow!  There is a turn of things for all of humanity.  The wise man does not follow the world in its estimation of who is to be counted as worthy and who is worthless.  These things are ultimately decided by God - Who has given us His estimation of things in His Word.  If therefore the Word tells us those whom the world calls blessed are cursed - know that they are cursed indeed.  Therefore the best thing we can do is reject the worldly ideas of manhood and a life worth living, and give ourselves to how our God views this world.  

Hope deferred makes the heart sick, But desire fulfilled is a tree of life. Proverbs 13:12

Today's proverb is placing before us a truth - that when we hope for something and that hope is indefinitely put off - we can become heart-sick for that thing.  When we want something very badly, we begin to set our sights upon it and long for it.  If that thing does not come to us - the longing increases to the point where we cannot get it out of our minds.  From that point there is an increasing burden upon our hearts for the thing we long for in life.  But if what we long for is not within our grasp - and we cannot bring it within our grasp - our hearts will grow sick over it.  Soon, we find ourselves in a morose and depressed state over this thing - where it dominates our lives.  If there is not a relieiving of that situation - we will lose hope altogether - which is a sad state to be in as we walk through life.  I'm sure we've all met someone who has utterly lost hope - embittered against someone, something, even against God - they live a life defined not by what they have - but by the one thing they did not get.  They are a bitter, resentful, horrid lot - and very difficult to be around.

The opposite of this is also true - that a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.  There is something about a desire that is met that thrills and envigorates the soul.  We find ourselves overjoyed at the realization of that which we desired - and it only encourages us to desire and work toward other things.  Please see and grasp that word, "work" here.  Jacob had a desire to marry Rachel - and was willing to work 7 years for that desire to be realized.  The Word tells us that the 7 years seemed but days because of his great love for her.  Even after his father in law deceived him and gave him Leah first, Jacob still worked another seven years for Rachel.  There is something about a desire that can be realized, that will make us work hard for it.  There is something about the accomplishment of a task - one that helps us realize a goal - that will help us to work joyfully toward it.  That is why it is so wise to live by understanding that comes from knowing and pursuing God's will rather than our own. 

Romans 12:1-2 urges us to present our very bodies to God as a living sacrifice.  We are exhorted to be conformed to God, and not to this world.  And in this divine pursuit we are promised that we will find the will of God to be good, acceptable, and perfect.  There is wisdom indeed!  The desire fulfilled here is a reference to God's will being the source and the center of our desires.  We do not allow the world to lead us by the nose through its lusts.  That, too often, will lead to heart sickness over a hope deferred again and again.  What is astounding is the heart sickness is over that which is outside God's will for us.  When we make the mistake of being conformed to this world, our desires are conformed to its lusts as well.  Then we find ourselves in opposition to God's will and longing for things God does not desire to give to us.  Just like with the Israelites, He may give them to us - but send a leanness to our souls in the process.  This means that God will usually say, "No!" to those desires.  If we continue to want them, we will find that our "ungodly hope" will be deferred again and again. 

God's deferral is for our own good - but that is not the way that we will see it.  We will continue to writhe in anguish in the grasp of God's controlling and sovereign hand - finding ourselves miserable in the will of God.  Our heart sickness will eventually turn us against Him - making us think He is withholding from us that which is good or best.  This, dear saints, is the same lie that was told to Eve in the garden.  God knows that in the day you eat of this forbidden fruit your eyes will be opened.  He is trying to keep you from being just like Him.  Just like Eve, we will too often believe the lie - and allow our heart sickness to lead to a soul sickness - and death. 

We do not want the false fruit of the tree of our own and this world's evil desires.  What we should want is the fruit of the tree of life.  Interesting isn't it how this passage points us to that fateful decision that was made in the garden.  That decision deferred the hope of life for generations - and unleashed on the earth sin, suffering, and death that would reign over men until the second Adam, Jesus Christ, made His appearance and destroyed the lie.  Oh, saints of God, do not give your life to worldly and fleshly hopes that will only take you toward heart sickness.  Embrace God's ways and paths.  Surrender to His will and His Spirit's guiding.  In that you will find a tree of life that will yield not just an earthly satisfaction now - but an eternal one that will last forevermore.