MAIN HOMILETICS OF Proverbs 14:22
A FATAL ERROR AND A CERTAIN GOOD
I. The mistake of devisers of evil.
1. They err in relation to the success of their plans. They think that their wicked devices will succeed, or they would not go to the labour and trouble of devising them. But they make a fatal mistake, because they ignore another plan, which embraces theirs. They forget that there may be a circle of action outside their circle, which may circumvent all their schemes. A man may look at the sea from the lower deck of a vessel and think he can see all that is to be seen. But his thinking so would only prove him to be a fool. The man at the masthead can see much further. A traveller on a plain may have an extensive view, but he who is on the mountain-top takes in all that he can see, and much besides. So it is with the man who devises evil. He can see a little way before him and around him, he thinks, therefore, that he can take in the whole situation at a glance, and can see what is needful for him to do and what can be accomplished to bring his plans to pass. But there is more beyond; God takes a higher position and has a wider outlook. He takes in not only all that the wicked man has seen, but much that he does not see. “He taketh the wise in their own craftiness; and the counsel of the froward is carried headlong” (Job 5:13). The device of Haman was so well planned that it seemed to him certain of success. But Mordecai’s God had a plan which embraced and out-flanked that of the murderer. The device of Joseph’s brethren seemed to embrace all that was necessary to accomplish his ruin, but it was utilised by the righteous Ruler of the Universe to bring to pass his exaltation. The device of evil against the Divine Son of God is the most palpable instance that the universe has ever seen of the short-sighted error of wicked men.
2. He errs because he will meet with retribution in his own person. Human rulers are sometimes involved in much perplexity because, although they know that plots are being woven against their government, they are not only at a loss to find a plan by which to bring home the crime to the conspirators, but feel they have no force strong enough to punish them if they are convicted. But God is never at a loss either for means to defeat the purposes of those that devise evil, or to punish them for their devices. He is never driven, by want of power, to yield to those who oppose the good—who work iniquity. (See Homiletics on chap. Proverbs 12:12-14, page 268.)
II. The reward of devisers of good. “Mercy and truth.”
1. Even a deviser of good needs mercy. The very act of devising good sometimes brings a man to need mercy of his fellow-man. Daniel devised nothing but good to the king of Babylon, but his very uprightness made him an object of envy and brought him into a condition to need mercy. Or a deviser of good may err in judgment. The best intentioned man is liable to make mistakes. No human being, however benevolent his life, can claim to be exempt from moral infirmities which will sometimes mislead him. Every man therefore needs that his fellow creatures should mingle charity with their judgment of him and with their conduct towards him. And he always needs mercy from God. No saint of ancient or modern times has ever been beyond the need of God’s mercy, although their very name implies that they are devisers of good.
2. He equally needs truth. He needs to be able to depend upon the word of another, he needs a certainty of being justly dealt with. A man’s success in business largely depends upon his being able to rest upon the fair dealing of others. He wants truth in others to meet his own truthfulness—as he strives to deal justly, and to love mercy, so he desires to be dealt with justly as well as mercifully.
3. Both these needs shall be met. Sometimes by men, always by God. Experience and history furnish us with many exceptions to the first. Those men of God who have been most eminent devisers of good have often met with anything but mercy and truth from those whom they have desired to benefit. Ignorance or envy has risen up against them, and so the missionary has been slain by the club of the savage abroad, and the reformer has been made the mark of slanderous tongues at home. But everyone has found the testimony of the inspired word to be true in his own experience: With the merciful Thou wilt show Thyself merciful. With an upright man Thou wilt show Thyself upright (Psalms 18:25).
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
If wicked men employ their thoughts to contrive mischief, and show so much diligence in the service of sin, although they have such a miserable reward, let God’s people exercise the same diligence in the service of righteousness, by seeking out and seizing opportunities of doing good, and their labour shall not be in vain in the Lord.—Lawson.
Scripture traces actions to principles. Wicked as it is to do evil, it is far more hateful to devise it (see Proverbs 14:17). Devising evil, therefore, if it comes not to the act, shows the purpose (chap. Proverbs 24:8).—Bridges.
To him who lays himself out in planning and executing designs of benefit to others, there shall be “mercy and truth.” From his fellow-men he shall experience universal love and esteem. He shall find sympathy in his distresses and reverses, faithfulness in dealing (for if anything will secure a man from being cheated and defrauded, it will be a character for disinterested kindness), and the general exercise of practical gratitude. And the Lord will make him to experience His love, and will fulfil to him faithfully all His “precious promises.”—Wardlaw.
Solomon here is no lawgiver, but an evangelist, leading us unto Jesus Christ. For we can obtain no mercy but in Him only. For “the promises of God are yea and amen in Him.”—Cope.
Can any one see any flaw in “Mercy” and “Truth?” Mercy is pure benevolence; and truth is that other quality of the good, which is commanded in the first table of the law, and answers to a love of holiness. Is there anything right, outside of “Mercy and Truth?” Is there anything wrong that the vilest rebel can detect in either one of them? Must “they not err that devise evil,” if for no other cause than that “Mercy and Truth” stand on the opposite side, and, through eternal ages, are busy in devising good?—Miller.
Aristotle relateth of Socrates that he affirmed all virtues to be sciences, all sins to be ignorances. And Aquinas saith of it, that therein he judged in some sort rightly because the will never would incline to evil, unless it were with some ignorance and error of reason. The question, therefore, is not here asked of him that deviseth evil, for he thinketh himself to be right, he doth not think that to be evil which he doth, nor himself to err in doing of it. He attaineth to the end at which he aimeth, and that persuadeth him that he aimeth aright. But so to be in the right way, is quite to wander from the right way; and howsoever such an one may not err in his plans and plots, yet doubtless he erreth from the ways of life.—Jermin.
Mercy and truth were the best that David could wish for his fast friend Ittai (2 Samuel 15:20). These two attributes of God shall cause that good devices shall not miscarry. His mercy moves Him to promise, His truth binds Him to perform. “For Thy word’s sake, and according to Thine own heart Thou hast done all these things” (2 Samuel 7:18-21). “According to Thine own heart,” that is out of pure and unexcited love, Thou didst give Thy word and promise, and “for Thy word’s sake,” Thou hast performed it.—Trapp.