A person’s own folly leads to their ruin, yet their heart rages against the Lord. May our own will may be annihilated, and the will of God placed in its room.

Stańczyk during a Ball at the Court of Queen Bona after the Loss of Smolensk (Stańczyk).(1862)
The jester is the only person at a 1514 royal ball troubled by the news that the Russians have captured Smolensk.

Proverbs 19:3

A person’s own folly leads to their ruin,
   yet their heart rages against the Lord.

Charles Bridges, MA (1794-1869) was a preacher and theologian in the Church of England. Bridges explains:

3. The foolishness of man perverteth his way: and his heart fretteth against the Lord.

The fool rushes into the sin, and most unreasonably frets for the sorrow


The Body of Abel Found by Adam and Eve, c. 1825, William Blake
Thus his first-born, when his own sin had brought “punishment” on him, fretted,
as if “it were greater than he could bear.”

Such was the foolishness of Adam! First he perverted his way; then he charged upon God its bitter fruit. “God, making him upright,” made him happy. Had he been ruled by his will, he would have continued so. But, “seeking out his own inventions” (Eccles. vii. 29), he made himself miserable. As the author of his own misery, it was reasonable, that he should fret against himself. But such was his pride and baseness, that his heart fretted against the Lord, as if he, not himself, was responsible. (Gen. iii. 6-12.) Thus his first-born, when his own sin had brought “punishment” on him, fretted, as if “it were greater than he could bear.” (Ib. iv. 8-13.) This has been the foolishness of Adam’s children ever since. God has linked together moral and penal evil, sin and sorrow. The fool rushes into the sin, and most unreasonably frets for the sorrow; as if he could “gather grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles." (Matt. vii. 16.) He charges his crosses, not on his own perverseness, but on the injustice of God. (Ezek. xviii. 25.) But God is clear from all the blame (Jam. i. 13, 14): He had shewn the better; man chooses the worse. He had warned by his word and by conscience. Man, deaf to the warning, plunges into the misery; and, while "eating the fruit of his own ways," his heart frets against the Lord. ‘It is hard to have passions, and to be punished for indulging them. I could not help it. Why did he not give me grace to avoid it?' (See Jer. vii. 10.) Such is the pride and blasphemy of an unhumbled spirit. The malefactor blames the judge for his righteous sentence. (Isa. viii. 21, 22. Rev. xvi. 9-11, 21.)

The fool cannot turn to God because he is stubborn in his impotency


"Keying Up" - The Court Jester by William Merritt Chase (1849 – 1916)



But let us look a little into this bold impeachment of God's righteousness. ‘Why did he not give me grace?' Is then God bound to give his grace? Have we any claim upon God? Is not God's grace his own? (Matt. xx. 15. Rom. ix. 19-21.) Is not the fool following his own will, and therefore responsible for his doing? Why cannot he turn to God? He will not listen or obey. The means are free before him. No force of natural impossibility hinders. His stubbornness alone is his impotency. He cannot, because he will not; and therefore, if he perish, it is not in his weakness, but in his wilfulness. (Matt. xxiii. 37. John, v. 40.) The worst part of his wickedness is his wicked will. It is not only that his nature is wicked, but that he is willing that it should be so. Did he but feel his moral inability, would he but look to him who is "eyes to the blind," "ears to the deaf," "feet to the lame," his healing would be sure.

If you are not ready to serve God, you need a change of heart -- the disease is within



Woe unto You, Scribes and Pharisees (between 1886 and 1894), James Tissot.
"The Pharisee mocks God by his hypocritical service, and then frets, because no good comes out of it."

This perverseness spews itself in every rising of corruption. The Pharisee mocks God by his hypocritical service, and then frets, because no good comes out of it. (Isa. lviii. 3. Mal. iii. 14.) The proud worm cherishes a discontented humour with Providence. Either the desired comfort is withheld, or the will has been crossed. If his tongue is quiet, his heart frets. Had he been placed differently, he would have succeeded better. God therefore has the blame of his failure. Whereas it is obvious, that if he is not ready now to serve God, he needs a change of heart, not a change of place. The disease is within, and therefore would follow him through altered circumstances with the same result; leaving him as far as ever from happiness. The constant struggle of the will is to be anywhere, but where God has placed us for our best welfare.

Even if we shun what is sinful, we allow occasions of sin

Laughing jester (circa 1500).
Netherlandish (possibly Jacob Cornelisz. van Oostsanen)
If "a fool's contention" with his brother "calleth for strokes" (Chap. xviii. 6),
much more does the "murmurer and complainer" of God (Jude, 16)

Humbling it is to see this foolishness in the Lord's people. Our carelessness or waywardness provokes the rod; yet the heart fretteth under the rebuke. (2 Sam. vi. 8.) While we shun what is positively sinful, too often we allow occasions of sin. We are found in circumstances or society, which, as experience has taught us, hinder prayer, damp the spiritual taste, and wound the conscience. If therefore we allow this wilful indulgence, at least let us charge on ourselves, not on God, the bitter consequence. Often also we quarrel with what we cannot alter; thus doubling the burden, by adding guilt to our trouble. If "a fool's contention" with his brother "calleth for strokes" (Chap. xviii. 6), much more does the "murmurer and complainer" of God (Jude, 16); "the man striving with his Maker" (Isa. xlv. 9); or rather the child kicking against his Father's rod, instead of "humbling himself under his mighty hand." (1 Pet. v. 6.) Did he but know himself, could he but trust his God, he would look, not at the rod, but at the hand that holds it. Could the heart fret to see it in his father's hands? Should he not kiss it, even while it smites him; peacefully, yea thankfully, "accepting the punishment of his iniquity?" (Lev. xxvi. 41.)

This turbulent insurrection against Divine Sovereignty brings its own torment. It sets all the powers of the soul out of course. There is no peace or tranquillity, but in complacency with the will of God, being fully reconciled to his disposals and dispensations. While "Ephraim was as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke," it was only the more fretting. After that he "was turned, and instructed," and "quieted himself as a weaned child," he found ease. (Jer. xxxi. 18, 19.)

Do no complain of the consequences of sin, but turn to the Lord

The Lord's Prayer (Le Pater Noster) (between 1886 and 1894), James Tissot
""Thy will be done"--is easily repeated, but hardly learned."

Always, therefore, let us be ready with the cry—"Shew me wherefore thou contendest with me. That which I see not, teach thou me. If I have done iniquity, I will do so no more." (Job, x. 2; xxxiv. 32.) Instead of "complaining for the punishment of our sins; let us search and try our ways, and turn again unto the Lord." "I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against him." (Mic. vii. 9.) The extent of the evil is little known, till we are brought under the hands of God. It requires no less than his Almightiness to break the stubborn will into ready obedience. "Thy will be done"--is easily repeated, but hardly learned. If things are not "according to our mind," too often is there a struggle to break loose from the affliction; professing indeed to live by faith, yet repining at our hard condition.

May our own will may be annihilated, and the will of God placed in its room



Luca Giordano, The death of Seneca (1684)
"It will then be seen that the cross of disappointed wishes was the gracious means of saving us from ruining ourselves, and of exercising us for endurance," (Seneca, De Providentia, c.4).

So far as we regard our own happiness, our great desire should be, ‘that our own will may be annihilated, and the will of God placed in its room.’ (Robert Leighton)  The discipline, therefore, that schools the will into subjection, brings with it nothing to excite one murmuring thought. So much does it lay open to us of the secrets of God's heart towards us, and of our hidden corruptions; that, both as coming from his hand, and operating upon us, it is an invaluable blessing. Well satisfied are we, that all that God does, will appear to be right and best when the mystery is finished; that every leaf of his Providence will be expounded with the full manifestation of his glory. It will then be seen that the cross of disappointed wishes was the gracious means of saving us from ruining ourselves, and of exercising us for endurance (Seneca, De Providentia, c.4), and ultimately for enjoyment. Joy and delight indeed will it be to look back upon every step of "the right way, by which our Father has led us to the city of habitation" (Ps. cvii. 7), and to mark, how needful was the discipline at every point, how suited to every exigency; and what abundant matter of praise does it furnish for that unwearied patience, with which our loving Father "suffered our manners in the wilderness." (Acts, xiii. 18.) Meanwhile let us study God more closely in all his gracious dispensations. ‘O Lord, remove our ignorance, that we may know thee; our idleness, that we may seek thee; our unbelief, that we may find and enjoy thee.

Source: Bridges, Charles. A Commentary on Proverbs. New York/Pittsburgh: R. Carter, 1847, pages 307 to 310.