Proverbs 4:20 - Meaning and Application

Solomon has just warned us not to do evil, and now he teaches us how to do what is right. It is not enough to avoid places where sin may start. We must also learn the right way to live.

We need to keep God’s Word always before us. The sayings of wisdom should guide us, warn us, and shape our choices. So we should listen to them with a willing heart, because a careful ear to God’s Word is a good sign of grace beginning in the heart, and a good way to grow in it. If we are ready to know our duty, there is reason to hope we are ready to do it.

We must also hold on to these words carefully. We should keep them in front of us as our rule and look at them again and again, trying to match our lives to them. They should also be kept deep in the heart, as something precious and hard to lose. When God’s Word is written in the heart, it stays there.

We should value the words of wisdom because they are like both food and medicine to us, like the tree of life (Revelation 22:2; Ezekiel 47:12). Those who seek them and keep them will find life in them (Proverbs 4:22). The spiritual life begins by the Word, as the tool God uses, and by the same Word it is still fed and sustained. We cannot live without it, but by faith we can live on it.

The Word is also healing. It brings health to the whole person, body and soul, and helps keep both in good condition. There is enough in it to cure the diseases of this broken world. It is medicine for all our flesh, meaning our corrupt nature and our troubles, which cling to us like thorns. In God’s Word there is a proper remedy for every spiritual sickness.

We must also watch our inner life closely, as Proverbs 4:23 says, “Keep your heart with all diligence.” God gave us our souls, and he also gave us a strict charge to guard them. We must be watchful over ourselves and keep guard over every entrance to the soul. We need to protect the heart from doing harm and from being harmed, from sin and from trouble.

We should keep the heart as we would keep a treasure, a vineyard, or a clear conscience. That means keeping out bad thoughts, encouraging good ones, and keeping our affections on the right things in the right measure. The verse means “keep with all keeping,” because many kinds of care are needed, and all of them are needed. The heart is so deceitful (Jeremiah 17:9) that we must guard it more carefully than anything else. We guard our eyes (Job 31:1), our tongues (Psalm 34:13), and our feet (Ecclesiastes 5:1), but above all we must guard our hearts.

We need this care because “out of it are the issues of life.” A well-kept heart brings forth good results that honor God and help others. More generally, all our actions come from the heart. So if the heart is well guarded, life will be more orderly and peaceful. If it is neglected, life will become confused and unhappy.

We must also watch what comes out of our mouths. Proverbs 4:24 says, “Put away from you a crooked mouth and perverse lips.” Because our hearts are naturally corrupt, corrupt speech easily comes out of them. So we should deeply hate every kind of evil talk, like cursing, swearing, lying, slander, quarrelsome speech, filthy speech, and foolish talk. These come from a mouth and lips that will not be guided by reason or religion. They are as ugly before God as a twisted mouth is before people.

All sins of the tongue must be put away by steady watchfulness and firm resolve. We should keep far from words that even look evil, and we should be afraid of learning such speech at all.

We must also make a covenant with our eyes. Proverbs 4:25 says, “Let your eyes look straight ahead.” The eye should be fixed, not wandering. It should not roam after everything that appears, because that pulls us away from what is good and leads us into evil. We must turn our eyes from worthless things and keep our aim single and sincere.

Our eyes should be fixed on our Master, so that we live to please him. They should be fixed on our rule, so that we follow it. They should also be fixed on our goal, the prize of the heavenly calling, and everything we do should point toward that end.

We must also think carefully about all we do. Proverbs 4:26 says, “Ponder the path of your feet.” That means weigh it carefully. Put God’s Word in one scale, and your actions, or the actions you are about to take, in the other, and see whether they match. Be careful and exact in testing whether your way is good before the Lord and whether it will end well.

We should look back at our past ways and examine what we have done. We should also look at our present ways and ask where we are going. Then we can walk carefully and with good sense. It matters to think about the duties, the difficulties, the advantages, and the dangers in our path, so we can act wisely. Do nothing rashly.

We must also walk with steadiness, caution, and consistency. Proverbs 4:26 says, “Let all your ways be established.” Do not be unstable like a double-minded person. Do not keep stopping between two choices. Keep moving in a steady line of obedience. Do not turn to the right or the left, because there are mistakes on both sides, and Satan succeeds if he can pull us off course in either direction.

We should be very careful to turn away from evil. We must watch out for extremes, because evil can hide there too. Our eyes should keep looking straight ahead, so we stay on the safe middle path. Those who want to prove themselves wise must stay watchful all the time.