Charles Bridges
Proverbs 4:23-27. Keep thy heart with all diligence (above all keeping, margin); for out of it are the issues of life. Put away from thee a froward mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee. Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee. Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established (all thy ways shall be ordered aright, margin). Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove thy foot from evil.
These rules are invaluable as our safeguard. Assaulted as we are at every point – the heart, the mouth, the eye, the feet – every inlet of sin must be strongly guarded.
First, the heart: the citadel of man, the seat of his dearest treasure. It is fearful to think of its many watchful and subtle assailants. Let it be closely garrisoned. Let the sentinel never sleep at his post. “Take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently” (Deut 4:9).
But the heart must be known in order to be kept effectually. Nothing is more difficult, while nothing is more necessary. If we do not know our hearts, we know nothing to any purpose. Whatever else we know, to neglect this knowledge is to be a fool at the best. If we do not know our weak points, Satan knows them well – the sins that most easily beset us.
Then when I know my heart and feel it to be so dangerous and in such dangers, the question forces itself upon me: Can I keep my heart? Certainly not. But though it is God’s work, it is man’s agency. Our efforts are His instruments. He implants an active principle and sustains the unceasing exercise (Phil 2:12,13; Jude 21,24). Conscious faith commits the keeping of the heart to “a faithful Creator” (1 Pet 4:19; Ps 25:20). This done, make diligent use of all the means of preservation, in His strength and guidance. Watch unto prayer. Cherish a humble, dependent spirit. Live in the atmosphere of the Word of God. Resist the admission of an evil world, even in its most plausible forms (Jdg 8:22,23; 2 Ki 5:5,16). Here lies the conflict to the end.
“The greatest difficulty in conversion is to win the heart to God, and after conversion to keep it with Him.” “What is there”, asks Joseph Mead, “that will not entice and allure so fickle a thing as the heart from God?” Above all
1An edited extract from Bridges’ A Commentary on Proverbs.
keeping, exhorts the wise man, keep thine heart. Here Satan keeps special watch, here therefore we must keep special watch. If the citadel is taken, the whole town must surrender. If the heart is seized, the whole man – the affections, desires, motives, pursuits – all will be yielded up. The heart is the vital part of the body. A wound here is instant death.
Thus, spiritually as well as naturally, out of the heart are the issues of life. It is the great vital spring of the soul, the fountain of actions, the centre and the seat of principle, both of sin and of holiness (Mt 12:34, 35). The natural heart is a fountain of poison (Mt 15:19). The purified heart is a well of living water (Jn 4:14). As is the fountain, so must the streams be. As is the heart, so must be the mouth, the eyes, the feet. Therefore, above all keeping, keep thine heart. Guard the fountain, lest the waters be poisoned. Many have been the bitter moments as a result of neglecting this guard. All keeping is vain, if the heart is not kept.
But with this keeping, let us not forget to guard the outlets of sin! (Prov 13:3). What a world of evil the heart pours out from the froward mouth! (Jas 3:5,6). Commit therefore both heart and mouth to God’s discipline (Ps 19:13,14; 141:3,4). Then let prayer and faith be the practical principles of Christian watchfulness. Not only shun, but put away (even far away) from thee . . . perverse lips. Their evil, be it remembered, extends beyond ourselves. Even if the peace-speaking blood should speak peace to ourselves, the painful sense of injury will remain to our fellow creatures, perhaps without remedy.
Next to the heart and mouth, keep thine eyes, “the light of the body” (Mt 6:22), the faculty of the soul that directs. Yet too often they are a most dangerous inlet for sin (Gen 3:6; 6:2; 39:7; Mt 5:28). Therefore, like Job, make a covenant with them (Job 31:1). Place them under heavenly restraint (Ps 119:37). Let them look right on, like someone ploughing, who must not look back.3 Look straight before us. Had Eve done so, she would have looked on the command of her God, not on the forbidden tree (Gen 3:3-6). Had Lot’s wife looked straight before her, instead of behind, she would have been a monument of mercy, like her husband (Gen 19:17, 26). Achan was ruined by neglecting this rule of wisdom (Jos 7:21). David’s bad example calls the holiest of us to godly jealousy of ourselves (2 Sam 11:2). In asking the way to Zion, be sure that your faces are thitherward (Jer 50:5).
The pleasure of sin and the seductions of a tempting world do not lie in the road. They would not therefore meet the eye looking right on – straight before us. They belong to the by-paths on the right hand and on the left, or to some backward track. It is therefore only when the Christian lingers, turns aside, or turns back that they come in sight. Take the runner’s motto: “This
3Thomas Cartwright. See Lk 9:62.
one thing I do”. Eye the mark, and press on to it (Phil 3:12-14). Onwards, upwards, heavenwards.
Lastly, keep your feet. Has not experience, no less than Scripture, shown your need of a circumspect walk? (Eph 5:15). Snares are laid out for every path; yes, for every step in your path; for your meat, your drink, your calling – perhaps more than all for the service of God. What deep pondering should there be in a path so beset with danger! Every step should be carefully weighed (Gen 24:5; Ps 39:1; Dan 1:8; 6:3,4). Joseph pondered and thereby established his way (Gen 39:9,10). Peter, neglecting to ponder, was fearfully sifted (Mt 26:58,69-75). David also, when he did not ponder the direction of his path, brought shame upon himself (1 Sam 27-29), like the trouble which Christian made for himself in the smooth By-path meadow instead of following the rough and narrow road. “The habit of calm and serious thinking makes the real difference between one man and another.”
Here then is the voice of wisdom. Beware of mistaking presumption for faith, temptations for providential appointments. Never forsake a plain for a doubtful command (1 Ki 13:18-22). Estimate every step by its conformity to the known will of God. Do not dare to advance one step without God (Jos 9:14). In His path you may “tread upon the lion and adder” without hurt (Ps 91:11-13). But who shall venture into a path of his own choosing without a wound? See that your feet are straight, like those of the cherubim (see Ezek 1:7; see also Heb. 12:13). “The pleasures of sin” lie on the right hand and on the left. The eyes therefore, looking right on, escape the sight of these pleasures. The foot of the one who ponders is established in steady perseverance; and by marking small deviations, and never turning out of the straight path to avoid a cross, it is removed from evil.
May we all have grace and wisdom to ponder these sound, practical rules! The man of God must only have one standard (Is 8:20). He must “know no man after the flesh” (2 Cor 5:16). He must often put aside the Church, no less than the world, that he may listen more closely to the command: “Walk before Me” (Gen 17:1). He must discern and crush the first motions of corruption, guarding every avenue of sin: the senses, the memory, the imagination, the touch, the taste. He must walk by the straight rule of the gospel, or else he will not only bring discomfort upon himself, but stumbling to the Church (Gal 2:11-14). A single eye, steadily fixed on the one Object, will make the path luminous (Mt 6:22). Straightforward progress will ensure prosperity (Deut 17:20; Jos 1:7,8) – keeping the middle path and daily lifting up the voice for restraint and guidance (Ps 119:37; 143:8-10). “Thine ears shall hear the word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left” (Is 30:21).