Four Valuable Virtues
W. Clarkson Proverbs 3:27-32 Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power of your hand to do it. There are some graces which, though not of the first importance, are yet far from being unimportant. Many men so fashion their lives that while, upon the whole, they are rightly reckoned among the wise and good, they are much less happy, less honoured, and less useful than they might become if they heeded a few small things. If we had regard to some of the minor moralities which we are apt to neglect, there would be less friction and more beauty in our lives than is now seen of God and felt of man. I. PUNCTUALITY IS THE PAYMENT OF THAT WHICH IS DUE. (Vers. 27, 28.) These dues may be (1) the wages of the workman; (2) the debt contracted with the tradesman; (3) the sum promised to the relative or friend. This may be denied, even when it could be easily rendered, through an "avaricious reluctance" to part with money or a culpable disregard of other men's necessities and claims. Such default is not worthy of a godly, a Christian man. II. CONSCIENTIOUSNESS TOWARDS OUR FRIENDS. (Ver. 29.) Too many men are inclined to abuse the confidence their kindred or friends' put in them, or the generosity they are prepared to show them. Such men draw unscrupulously on the trust or the bounty of others. It is a serious departure from perfect rectitude, and should be disallowed to themselves by all who fear God and would follow Christ. Those who "dwell securely by us," who have confided in us, are those whom every principle of honest self-respect demands that we should treat with scrupulous integrity. III. PEACEABLENESS OF SPIRIT. (Ver. 30.) The lives of many are embittered by the quarrelsomeness of their neighbours. Offence, never intended, is taken, bitter words are spoken, a hostile attitude is assumed, all friendly relations are broken off, malicious insinuations are thrown out; in fact, "there is war between the house" of this man and that man, when there is positively nothing on which to found a complaint. A very small allowance of charity would cure this evil spirit, if only taken in time. Charity would hide a multitude of sins in the sense of preventing them altogether, if men would but attribute kind motives to their neighbours, or inquire sufficiently before they condemn, or even wait a while before they strike, to see if there is no other and better way of arranging a dispute. If it be possible - and it very often is possible, when men imagine it is not - we should "live peaceably with all men" (Romans 12:18). IV. FREEDOM FROM FRETTING ENVY. Many good men are, upon the whole, what God would have them to be, and they have from him all that they can reasonably ask at his hand; their well being is such as to constitute the condition of thankfulness and joy. Yet the cup of their life is made bitter and unpalatable because they are envious of the successful oppressor (ver. 31); they "fret themselves because of evil doers," and are envious against the workers of iniquity (Psalm 37:1, 8; Psalm 73:3). They think, perhaps, that if bad men are as prosperous as they seem to be, they (the good) ought to be far more successful than they find themselves to be. Surely this is both sinful and foolish. 1. It is discontentment with God's arrangement, and a querulous challenging of his administration of human affairs. 2. It is forgetfulness of the fact that God's severest anger rests on the oppressor, and that he is therefore the last man to be envied; he is "abomination to the Lord" (ver. 32). Would we change places with him? 3. It overlooks the fact that the righteous man is enjoying the friendship of God - surely an advantage that immeasurably outweighs the wealth or honour which the oppressor has stolen. "The secret of the Lord" is with him. He is God's trusted servant, Christ's intimate friend (see Psalm 25:14; John 15:14, 15; John 14:23). - C. Parallel Verses KJV: Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power of thine hand to do it. WEB: Don't withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in the power of your hand to do it.