20 My son, be attentive to my words;
incline your ear to my sayings.
21 Let them not escape from your sight;
keep them within your heart.
22 For they are life to those who find them,
and healing to all their flesh.
23 Keep your heart with all vigilance,
for from it flow the springs of life.
24 Put away from you crooked speech,
and put devious talk far from you.
25 Let your eyes look directly forward,
and your gaze be straight before you.
26 Ponder the path of your feet;
then all your ways will be sure.
27 Do not swerve to the right or to the left;
turn your foot away from evil.
"Keep your heart with all vigilance." Men are built and designed to guard things. When God placed Adam in the garden to tend it, he was meant to be it's keeper. He was meant to guard it and watch over it. The woman, Eve, God placed with Adam was meant to be guarded and kept. He did not live up to his duty, as we all know, but the men who came from him had the same innate purpose or calling. Boys learn it from infancy. If they are playing with a toy and someone tries to take it away, they guard it with all the strength and passion their little bodies can muster.
But Solomon, here, is not talking about a toy, or a possession, or another person. He is talking about one's own heart. The heart is the center of one's being. Solomon says that from the heart, the issues of life flow. Everything a man is and does comes from his heart. If he does evil things, it flows from the evil desires of his own heart. If he does anything of worth or value, something good, that also comes from his heart. But our problem is that evil flows from the spring of our hearts as a result of Adam's fall. Therefore, the only good that can come from an evil heart is only good in so far as God is pleased to bless it. Not the heart. The heart is still evil. The thing that is done is blessed. In order for good to come from the heart, God must change that heart.
When God is pleased to change a man's heart, He replaces the evil desires with good ones (Ezk 36:25-27). The desire of our hearts is still focused on what we can do to please ourselves, but God changes our desires so that we want to please God, more and more. Sanctification is the picture of this. We are enabled more and more to do that which is pleasing to God (Eph 2:10, Phil 2:13). When God changes our hearts, He purifies the 'water' streaming from it. It is like a well that springs good clean water (Jn 7:37-39).
After man was expelled from the Garden of Eden, God placed an angel to guard the garden. The angel was armed with a flaming sword that was vigilant to turn every way to block the entrance to the garden (Gen 3:24). After God changes the heart, to a certain extent, he enables us to guard our hearts in the same manner. Instead of a flaming sword, we are given the Word of God, which is described in Scripture as a 'two-edged sword' (Heb 4:12). And here, Solomon tells us to guard it with all vigilance, to protect it from evil, to keep evil from entering the place God has purified and made holy. How do we do that?
Solomon says through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, to put away crooked speech. We should not say things that are not true and we should never try to deceive anyone so that we can gain from their deception. He also tells us to look straight ahead, that is, we should not allow our hearts to be turned from God towards things that are not worthy of His blessing. Our eyes see things that we should not look upon. And once we gaze upon them, and take them into our hearts, those things stir up the evil desires within us so that we want what our sin nature craves and desires (Jas 1:14-15). If we are walking a path and see something off that path, and our eyes are no longer looking ahead, then we will not see the trap or the pitfall that it is our way, and we will fall straight into it.
Not only should we keep our eyes forward, but we should plan our steps in the way, so that even in the straight path, we will not stumble at any point. We are assured that even on the straight path, the enemy will try to get us to trip and fall. But if we turn neither to the right or to the left, but keep steady on and turn our feet only when there is an evil obstacle waiting for us, then our path will be sure, for we are told that if we keep this sort of diligence, we will never fall (2 Pet 1:10).
Not only should we keep our eyes forward, but we should plan our steps in the way, so that even in the straight path, we will not stumble at any point. We are assured that even on the straight path, the enemy will try to get us to trip and fall. But if we turn neither to the right or to the left, but keep steady on and turn our feet only when there is an evil obstacle waiting for us, then our path will be sure, for we are told that if we keep this sort of diligence, we will never fall (2 Pet 1:10).
Assignment:
1. Memorize Proverbs 4:20-27.
2. Read the whole chapter of Proverbs 4. Journal about anything that you deem of importance, especially as it pertains to guarding your heart.
3. In verse 6, who is she that guards you? Hint: Solomon personifies 'her' in Proverbs 3:13-18.
2. Read the whole chapter of Proverbs 4. Journal about anything that you deem of importance, especially as it pertains to guarding your heart.
3. In verse 6, who is she that guards you? Hint: Solomon personifies 'her' in Proverbs 3:13-18.
4. In verse 13, who is she that we are to guard?
5. Journal about the correlation between these two things.
5. Journal about the correlation between these two things.
