George Lawson

Proverbs 7:1-5: “My son, keep my words and store up my commands within you. Keep my commands and you will live; guard my teachings as the apple of your eye. Bind them on your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart. Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,” and call understanding your kinsman; they will keep you from the adulteress, from the wayward wife with her seductive words.”

When a man has got possession of some precious jewel, he will deposit it in some place secured from the predations of thieves. The words of God are infinitely more precious than diamonds, and ought to be laid up in our hearts, and kept with constant diligence and caution. They are to be kept as our life, for we are but dead men if we lose them, and they are the effectual instruments by which God is pleased to quicken men to newness of life, and to nourish, and strengthen, and preserve their souls. Without them, the life of the body is no better than a dream.

It is our advantage which God has in view, in furnishing us with a rule of conduct. “Be holy,” is the sum of the whole law — and the law’s excellency is, that it is as good as it is holy and just. Those, therefore, who neglect it — regard lying vanities, and despise their own mercy.

God expresses that regard which he has for his people, and that compassionate care which he exercises over them, by affirming that he who touches them, touches the apple of his eye. No less regard is certainly due on our part to that divine word of his, without which our souls must remain in darkness. The eye is a most precious member, and the apple of the eye is its most precious part. The Author of the body has guarded that part of it with a natural fence, and no less vigilance is exercised by us in its protection. We will not, if possible, permit the smallest mote to fall into it.

With equal care ought we to observe the law of God, and to avoid every temptation which might induce us in the smallest degree to transgress its commandments.

The law is to be fixed as a ring upon our fingers, that it may constantly present itself to our view, and deeply impress our hearts. These are the living tables, on which the statutes of the Lord are to be inscribed, that every inward power may be wrought into a suitableness unto them.

We take great pleasure in the society of amiable friends. Wisdom ought to be our most beloved friend, and our constant companion. With this best of friends, let us daily converse, and thus shall we be preserved from the danger of infectious company, and the allurements of seducers to vice.

Those who love understanding, and call wisdom their sister, are acknowledged by our Savior himself as his dearest relations. When we familiarize ourselves to wisdom, and treat her as a kinswoman — we shall find ourselves great gainers by it. She will preserve us from the immoral woman, and from her flatteries. The charms of wisdom will sink her beauty into deformity. The music of wisdom’s voice will render us deaf to the most inviting eloquence of her who would tempt us to forget the covenant of our God. Her lips drop as a honey-comb — but wisdom assures us that her end is bitter as wormwood.

But those who reject wisdom, will find this tempter too cunning for them. Of this Solomon gives us a proof from his own observation. He was a wise observer of men and their ways, and the result of his observation, as well as the wisdom which he learned by experience, he has communicated for our caution and instruction.