4/23/2023
Turn with me to Proverbs 16:1-3. These are our verses to study and memorize this week.
Proverbs 16:1-3 The plans of the heart belong to man, But the answer of the tongue is from the LORD. 2 All the ways of a man are clean in his own sight, But the LORD weighs the motives. 3 Commit your works to the LORD And your plans will be established.
Introduction
In the last few lessons we have looked at the overall introduction to this new section of Proverbs. We saw the importance of being teachable, of humility, and of living in the fear of the Lord. We saw that without truly fearing the Lord we will not gain wisdom. We may have knowledge of facts, but without the fear of the Lord we will not live in light of Him in all that we do.
It might seem counter-intuitive, but when we obediently live by faith in the fear of the Lord we also experience the peace, contentment, joy, hope, and love of the Lord. That is part of the amazing blessing of walking in fellowship with God. Through fear we learn love as we humble ourselves before Him and trust Him. Through fear we gain peace. We have true life in God with His wisdom. None of that comes through pride, self-reliance, or defiance of God. It only comes through the fear of the Lord.
Having seen the over-arching reality of the fear of the Lord, these proverbs that we are beginning to look at take on their fuller meaning. They are the elements of what it means to live in the fear of the Lord. They teach us about God and life. As we submit to them in the fear of the Lord they show us God’s wisdom. They show us His sovereignty and goodness. They show us our relationship to Him and to others. They become invaluable diamonds and rubies in our experience of them.
The first section of proverbs here in Proverbs 16 goes from verses 1-9 and quite intensely focuses on the Lord with His sovereignty over the plans and ways of mankind. Our relationship to God, with our accountability to Him, is one of the first truths that we will need to get straight as we live in the fear of Him. We are responsible to God. After looking at the Lord’s rule over people the wisdom of verses 10-15 will expand that to look at the delegated authority of the king’s rule over people.
In the first 9 verses all but one of them specifically refer to the Lord. Verses 1 and 9 begin and end this section with references to the thoughts and plans of people in relationship to God. Verses 2 and 7 both continue that with references to the ways of a man. Throughout these verses we see God’s involvement with people. As we make our plans and live life we all need to recognize His sovereignty over everything. We must not forget or ignore Him.
With that overview, let’s take a closer look at verses 1-3.
1 The plans of the heart belong to man, But the answer of the tongue is from the LORD.
It is the nature of people to make plans, but the wisdom of what is right and best comes from God.
This is the only place in Scripture where this word for “plans” occurs. However, from the context it is clear that it has to do with the internal decisions, thoughts, plans, or designs of a person. People think, plan, and carefully consider all kinds of things, but the right words come from the Lord. He is the standard of what is right. He is the one that we need to go to in order to discern and say what ought to be said.
In His sovereignty God has given us the ability to think, devise, and plan, but we are still responsible to Him. Wisdom on what to rightly say and do still must come from Him. So go ahead, think, plan, and make arrangements. But remember, to get things right, we need His wisdom and guidance for our words and actions. Once we weigh our situations by the righteousness of His wisdom, as given in the Scriptures, then the reality which we saw back in Proverbs 15:23 will come about.
Proverbs 15:23 A man has joy in an apt answer, And how delightful is a timely word!
We can think and plan all we want, but what really matters is having the right answer and the right plan. That is what will bring joy and satisfaction. To have that we must look beyond our own insight to God’s wisdom.
Scriptural Example: In Scripture we see an example of man’s plans alongside of God’s sovereignty in Psalm 2.
Psalm 2:1-6 Why are the nations in an uproar And the peoples devising a vain thing? 2 The kings of the earth take their stand And the rulers take counsel together Against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying, 3 “Let us tear their fetters apart And cast away their cords from us!” 4 He who sits in the heavens laughs, The Lord scoffs at them. 5 Then He will speak to them in His anger And terrify them in His fury, saying, 6 “But as for Me, I have installed My King Upon Zion, My holy mountain.”
Man can plan, devise, and plot all they want. But it is all foolishness if they do not come to God for His wisdom. God is still going to accomplish His purposes with His kingdom regardless of what people plan. If we are wise we will worship the Lord and pay homage to the Son of God as the end of Psalm advises.
Psalm 2:10-12 Now therefore, O kings, show discernment; Take warning, O judges of the earth. 11 Worship the LORD with reverence And rejoice with trembling. 12 Do homage to the Son, that He not become angry, and you perish in the way, For His wrath may soon be kindled. How blessed are all who take refuge in Him!
We also see another example of this in the New Testament in the instructions Christians were given on how to respond to being arrested and called before courts for their witness for Jesus. We are not to try to plan out exactly what we are to say, but to trust the Lord to give us the right response in that hour. We see this recorded in both Matthew 10:19 and Mark 13:11. Notice Mark 13:7-13 and especially why we were given this instruction.
Mark 13:7-13 “When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be frightened; those things must take place; but that is not yet the end. 8 “For nation will rise up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will also be famines. These things are merely the beginning of birth pangs. 9 “But be on your guard; for they will deliver you to the courts, and you will be flogged in the synagogues, and you will stand before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them. 10 “The gospel must first be preached to all the nations. 11 “When they arrest you and hand you over, do not worry beforehand about what you are to say, but say whatever is given you in that hour; for it is not you who speak, but it is the Holy Spirit. 12 “Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and have them put to death. 13 “You will be hated by all because of My name, but the one who endures to the end, he will be saved.
The reason we will not need to worry beforehand and plan exactly what we are going to say when they haul us before the courts is because God has a special promise here to give us the right “answer of the tongue” through His Holy Spirit. Yes, it is possible we might die and go to heaven from this kind of persecution, but God will accomplish His perfect plan of the gospel being preached to all nations—no matter what people and nations may do. We are simply called to be faithful and trust God with what to say. We will not be alone as we endure these things. He will help us. As we faithfully live in the fear of the Lord and allow God’s Word to richly dwell in us, then His wisdom will be there to enable us to say what we need to say when that moment of crisis comes.
Proverb in Comparison: Think about it, this happened repeatedly to Peter and Paul in the book of Acts when they were called before the authorities. Remember how astonished the unbelieving religious leaders were when they heard the words of Peter in Acts 4? Right before his speech to them, in Acts 4:8 it specifically mentions that Peter was “filled with the Holy Spirit.” Then he boldly proclaimed Christ to them as the one and only way of salvation. Acts 4:13 describes the reaction of the authorities:
Acts 4:13 Now as they observed the confidence of Peter and John and understood that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed, and began to recognize them as having been with Jesus.
If Peter had stayed up all night in that jail worrying about what he would say he probably would have been tempted in the flesh to come up with something that would have saved his own hide—like he had done when he denied Jesus at Jesus’ trial. Instead he trusted the Lord and was filled with His Spirit. The truth of God’s Word which was appropriate for that occasion was then boldly proclaimed.
The same could be said of Paul when he was brought before the proconsul of Paphos on the island of Cyprus. Paul was trying to proclaim the gospel to the proconsul, but he kept being opposed by Elymas the magician. How could you even prepare for such things? But Acts 13:9 specifically says that Paul was filled with the Holy Spirit before it details his actions and words. Paul directly confronted the reality of the issue and by God’s miraculous work blinded Elymas and was able to finish proclaiming the gospel. The proconsul became a believer. When we live in the fear of the Lord and have God’s Word dwelling in our hearts and minds, then when these kinds of situations come up we can have the peace of knowing that God will give us His answer of the tongue. He will give us the right answer for the situation.
It may be worth a caution though. Acts 16 makes no such mention of Paul being filled with the Spirit before he cast the demon out of the slave girl who was harassing them in Philippi. It only says that he was “greatly annoyed.” Paul and Silas ended up beaten and thrown in jail in that situation. I won’t pretend to know what Paul should have done or how exactly he should have responded. But I do know that we should make sure that we are living by the wisdom of God’s Word. We need to be controlled by God’s Spirit, not by our annoyances, when we handle situations in everyday life—as well is in any future situations where we might be called before magistrates. That is the only way that we will have God’s wisdom provide us with the right answer of the tongue in situations.
We should probably also note here. This promise to have the right words when we are brought before a court does not invalidate what we need to do to always be ready to give an answer for the hope that is in us as 1 Peter 3:15 commands. They actually correlate well together.
1 Peter 3:15 but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence;
Note the progression. We must be setting apart Christ as Lord in our hearts. As we thus walk in holiness before God we must then always be ready to make a defense and give an account for the hope that is in us. In conjunction with that there is an attitude that we are commanded to have as we do it. We are to be gentle and respectful.
To do all that we must know God’s Word. We must know the gospel well enough to be able to share it clearly. We must be able to express how God has worked in our lives to give us this hope in Him. We must be able to do it without an aggressive, disrespectful attitude. This does not mean we avoid directly confronting people with their sin and their need for a Savior. No, we see that occurring in many of the witnessing encounters before magistrates that we have recorded in the New Testament. However, it does mean that we need to avoid calling them names and being sinfully provocative.
We should proclaim Christ, not attack people. Paul once ran afoul of this when he called the high priest a whitewashed wall after the high priest had him unlawfully slapped. He had to then ask for forgiveness when he realized where he had inappropriately crossed the line with the way he had spoken (Acts 23:1-5).
Truth in Connection: Coming back to our proverb its point should be clear. God has given us the ability to think out long term and make plans, but all that is worthless if we do not look to God for the right answer and plan. Everything that we plan should be held in submission to His will and what He deems best. James 4:13-17 gives us the bottom line.
James 4:13-17 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.” 14 Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. 15 Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.” 16 But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil. 17 Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.
Anyone can plan, but the wise person does it in light of God’s sovereignty and in accordance with what is right. How do you plan? Do you seek out the right answer from the Lord and depend on Him for the wisdom of what the right way to go is?
This should first start with recognizing the truth of our sin and the good news of the gospel. We can make all the plans in the world, but if they do not include trusting in Jesus as our Lord and Savior and following Him then our plans will all come to nothing. But it does not stop there. We need to submit all our plans and goals to His wisdom so that we have the right answer on what to do and what to pursue each step of our lives. The answer of the tongue is from the Lord.
Our next proverb highlights the danger which comes from not seeking out God’s perspective on ourselves and our plans.
2 All the ways of a man are clean in his own sight, But the LORD weighs the motives.
People like to think of themselves as pure. But, the Lord sees and judges the reality.
The word for motives there is the word for “spirits” (as the King James Version translates it). Translating it “motives” clarifies that God sees through all the plans and actions of people to judge the reality of the situation. He is not biased by the self-deception and self-exaltation that blinds people. But this is more than just the motives that God weighs. God weighs our very spirits—us. No wicked way is hidden from His sight. No wicked action can be covered over. Both our motives and we ourselves are weighed and judged by God. God sees beyond the material to the immaterial and invisible.
Scriptural Example: In Scripture we see many examples of this. One example can be readily seen in the situation of King Saul with the Amalekites that we looked at last time. Saul *thought* and said that he had obeyed God’s command to kill all the Amalekites and the animals because he justified the exceptions. God’s evaluation of the situation and his heart was far different (1 Samuel 15:9-23).
In the very next chapter we see another example of this in Samuel’s anointing of David as the next king of Israel (1 Samuel 16:1-7). When David’s oldest brother Eliab came before Samuel he thought for sure he was the one that God wanted. God had to remind him that he was judging by the wrong things. “Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:1-7).
We also see this vividly with Uzziah in 2 Chronicles 26:16-23. He was a very successful king of Judah who became proud in his successes. Though he was not a priest he decided to enter into the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense. He was confronted by Azariah the high priest and 80 other valiant priests of the Lord.
King Uzziah was enraged with being confronted. So God struck him with leprosy right then and there on his head. In his own sight he was pure and doing something to honor God. But the Lord weighed his actions and heart and found him disobedient and proud. God did not tolerate it.
In the New Testament we see this in the letter of 3 John. John personally writes a letter to a man named Gaius because a previous letter to the church leader Diotrephes was despised. John wanted a traveling minister named Demetrius to be received and supported in his ministry as he came to their area. Instead Diotrephes had accused them of evil and refused to allow anyone to help this minister Demetrius on pains of being put out of the church. He must have somehow thought that what he was doing was right, but it was most definitely not. That truth is now recorded in Scripture for all time. Pride and self-exaltation kept Diotrephes from accepting what John said. It blinded him to the evil in his heart. God sees through all our lies, pride, and self-exaltation. He weighs the reality of our hearts and nothing is hidden or gotten away with. He exposes it and deals with it.
It does not matter how much we convince ourselves, or how earnest we are. If we are wrong we are wrong. We can blind ourselves thinking we are doing the right thing, when in reality we are not. Our motives might be wrong, or we might be wrong both in our motives and in the actions themselves. In both cases God sees through it all. We must be careful to not deceive ourselves and to not allow ourselves to be deceived. We must humbly go to God for His wisdom and evaluation of matters. In the end it will not matter what we think. It will only matter what God thinks. His judgment is always perfect and just.
Proverb in Comparison: When we compare this proverb with the rest of Scripture we see it further illustrated in Jesus’ encounter with the Pharisees in Luke 16:13-17.
Luke 16:13-17 “No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.” 14 Now the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, were listening to all these things and were scoffing at Him. 15 And He said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of men, but God knows your hearts; for that which is highly esteemed among men is detestable in the sight of God. 16 “The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John; since that time the gospel of the kingdom of God has been preached, and everyone is forcing his way into it. 17 “But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one stroke of a letter of the Law to fail.
God knows our hearts. Justifying ourselves will not change reality. God’s Word will remain and it will judge us. Hebrews 4:12-13 reiterates this.
Hebrews 4:12-13 For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 13 And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.
Truth in Connection: Given this reality that we tend to wrongly justify ourselves and that God sees everything and will judge us, we are dangerously situated. We have only one hope. We see that in Psalm 130.
Psalm 130:1-8 A Song of Ascents. Out of the depths I have cried to You, O LORD. 2 Lord, hear my voice! Let Your ears be attentive To the voice of my supplications. 3 If You, LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? 4 But there is forgiveness with You, That You may be feared. 5 I wait for the LORD, my soul does wait, And in His word do I hope. 6 My soul waits for the Lord More than the watchmen for the morning; Indeed, more than the watchmen for the morning. 7 O Israel, hope in the LORD; For with the LORD there is lovingkindness, And with Him is abundant redemption. 8 And He will redeem Israel From all his iniquities.
Like the Psalmist we must acknowledge our sin and their consequences. If God judges us for our sin no one will be able to stand before Him. Our only hope is to humble ourselves and cast ourselves on God’s way of redemption in Jesus Christ. Have you trusted in Jesus as your Lord and Savior? Trust what He did on your behalf on the cross. Trust in His resurrection and conquering of sin and death. Receive His life.
Then we need to live our lives in recognition of the truth that in our sinful flesh we will tend to justify ourselves and not see our sin for what it really is. We must not do that. We need to humbly let the truth of God’s Word—with its evaluation of right and wrong—reveal our sin for what it is. Then we must repent. Surrender it to God. Trust Him that His way is right and best. Depend on Him for the wisdom and strength to do what is right. Our next verse expands on this new way of life.
3 Commit your works to the LORD And your plans will be established.
What we do should be done for the Lord. That is how our plans will come about.
The word there for “commit” is an interesting one. Literally it means “roll away.”1 Now that is picturesque. We are to roll onto God our works, thoughts, and plans. We are to entrust them to His care, inspection, oversight, guidance, and reshaping. In that way our plans will be established.
This same expression for committing ourselves to the Lord is used in Psalm 37:4-5 in a very similar way.
Psalm 37:4-5 Delight yourself in the LORD; And He will give you the desires of your heart. 5 Commit your way to the LORD, Trust also in Him, and He will do it.
When we delight ourselves in God with His purposes and His way of life we are sure to have our desires fulfilled in Him. God is going to accomplish His perfect plan for our lives and this world. He is going to bring about the redemption of His people. He is going to judge sin and remake this world. He is going to institute His perfect, righteous kingdom. He is going to bring us to be with Him forever when He finishes preparing us a place. Those who are delighting in God will delight in what He delights in. He will transform our desires into His perfect desires and plan as we commit them all to Him. Nothing could be better than what He is arranging to occur. Therefore when we commit our works to Him to do what is right and best according to His perfect plan then we can be sure that they will indeed come about.
Scriptural Example: We see this in the example of David building the temple. His goal and motivation for building the temple was for the Lord’s glory. He wanted to do what God wanted. Thus he went to the Lord to ensure that his idea of building the temple was from the Lord. He knew that it would only matter and truly come about if it was God’s will. (cf. 1 Chronicles 17; 28:9-21; 29:1-9)
At first Nathan, who had not consulted the Lord, told him to go right ahead. It was a wonderful thing to do. But even when Nathan came back the next day and had to correct himself with the Lord’s actual will David was seemingly fine in adjusting his plans. His works, his life, and the purpose for his actions remained unchanged. His goal was to honor the Lord and exalt the Lord. So even though he was not able to build the temple, he was delighted to do what he was able to. So he made preparations, gathered supplies, and got the blueprints ready for how things were to be done. David’s plans were established because they were committed to the Lord and thus in line with God’s plans.
When all of our works are committed to the Lord, then our plans will be established. The way it occurs might be different at times than we imagined, but we will accomplish our goal of living our lives for Him. We will want what He wants. We will see what He wants brought about, and we will be able to be a part of that. When we want what God wants and commit our ways and works to Him we will see our plans come about.
Proverb in Comparison: When we compare this with the rest of Scripture we see that this was how Jesus Himself always operated. In His relationship with the Father, which He showed to us, He gave us the example of how we too ought to live.
John 8:25-30 So they were saying to Him, “Who are You?” Jesus said to them, “What have I been saying to you from the beginning? 26 “I have many things to speak and to judge concerning you, but He who sent Me is true; and the things which I heard from Him, these I speak to the world.” 27 They did not realize that He had been speaking to them about the Father. 28 So Jesus said, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and I do nothing on My own initiative, but I speak these things as the Father taught Me. 29 “And He who sent Me is with Me; He has not left Me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to Him.” 30 As He spoke these things, many came to believe in Him. (cf. also John 5:19, 30)
Jesus only spoke and did that which He learned from the Father. In the self-limitation of His humanity He had to learn Scripture and grow in wisdom (Luke 2:52).
Truth in Connection: The same ought to be true of our lives. We ought to search Scripture. Learn God’s plan for our lives and this world. Then we ought to walk in those purposes that God has for our lives. We ought to commit everything that we do to Him and seek to please Him. “Whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” as 1 Corinthians 10:31 says. Or as Colossians 3:17 puts it, “whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.”
If we do everything that we do in Jesus name, for God’s glory, then we will live in accordance with His Word and purpose. Our words will be from Him. Our lives and plan will be established. Like David we will make any adjustments needed to continue on in accordance with God’s perfect plan.
Are you living in accordance with God’s purpose for your life and His kingdom? Are you committing all your works to Him? If we want to see our plans come about and be established then we should go to the Lord for wisdom on what they should be. Trust Him for your salvation with His eternal good purposes for your soul in saving you from your sin. Then continue to trust Him with the details of your life.
His purpose for you and I does not include us wasting our whole lives in watching TV, playing games, and simply pursuing the enjoyment of things we find pleasure in. He has a grander purpose than that in building His kingdom. He does want us to enjoy the good gifts that He made for us in this world. But that should not become our purpose and goal. Like Jesus, our purpose and goal should be to do the will of the Father. That will bring true joy and fulfillment. Paul expressed it this way to the Philippians.
Philippians 2:12-18 So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; 13 for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. 14 Do all things without grumbling or disputing; 15 so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world, 16 holding fast the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I will have reason to glory because I did not run in vain nor toil in vain. 17 But even if I am being poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice and share my joy with you all. 18 You too, I urge you, rejoice in the same way and share your joy with me.
Paul wanted the Philippians to fulfill God’s purpose for their lives and thus have true joy. When we align our life and purpose with God’s purpose for us our way is established. We must commit our lives to Him.
Conclusion
Have you begun this journey of entrusting your whole life’s way to God? We must see our sin as it really is and see our need for redemption from its deadly consequences. God will judge our sin. But that is why Jesus went to the cross. He went to pay in full the penalty for sin and rescue us from it. We must trust in Him as our Lord and Savior for that to happen. Trust Him today. Entrust your whole life and eternity to Him. In Him you will have eternal life, purpose, and meaning.
Then for our day to day life to be established and to continue having the joy of our fellowship with God we need to continue to entrust our way to Him. Are you daily “rolling on to the Lord” your plans for the day? Are you seeking His wisdom to make sure that they are in line with His purposes for you? He has purposes for our life, our marriage, our family life, our church family life, our work, our general relationships, our ministries, and everything else in His Word. We must know what those purposes are to be able to live in them. Committing everything to Him day by day is what living in the fear of the Lord looks like. May we know the joy, peace, and purpose of having our life and way be established by walking in God’s perfect purpose for them.
If you have any questions on any of this or want help in coming to know Jesus as your Lord and Savior please come talk with us. We are available. Let’s pray.
© 2023, Kevin A. Dodge, All rights reserved.
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible® (NASB),Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. www.Lockman.org
1 See HALOT, גלל, “to roll away, to God: a need, distress.”
English (US) · 