The Height of Folly

Thomas Spurgeon.

Proverbs 28:26

He that trusts in his own heart is a fool: but whoever walks wisely, he shall be delivered.

Let me ask you to look at the closing clause of the previous verse, for it appears to me to have a very immediate relation to our text. "He that putteth his trust in the Lord shall be made fat. He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool." On the one hand is Jehovah, all strong, all wise; and on the other one's evilly disposed, vacillating heart. In whom dost thou trust? Those who trust Jehovah become fat and flourishing; He honours their faith, He prospers the work of their hands; but leanness of soul and lack of real blessing must be the result of trusting to one's inner consciousness, or past experience, or anything of self.

I. "He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool," BECAUSE OF THE DIVINE VERDICT ON THE HUMAN HEART. It is not as though we were left to our own estimate of the natural heart. If we were, since it is natural to us to think well of ourselves, we could hardly be called fools for trusting in these hearts of ours. We have a higher verdict; One who knows, far better than we can, has published the innate character of the human heart. We need not be in ignorance as to what God thinks of us. He is the authority on this matter. He made the heart. True, He did not make it sinful or foolish; He made it pure and holy, prepared for every good word and work. But, knowing as He does how beautiful it was at the outset, He can best judge of the marring of it. He knows, too, that the more beautiful and glorious it was at first, the greater is its wreck and ruin. We are aware of the fact that those things which are most finely constructed, when they do suffer damage suffer very materially. The wreck is all the greater, and repair is more difficult because of the delicacy of construction. Well, God knew how pure the human heart was made, what capabilities it possessed, what possibilities lay latent there. He knows, too, the damage sin has done. God does not look upon the fall as a slight accident which could be easily remedied. What does He say of the human heart as it is, by reason of its sin? He says, "Every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." Moreover, God in another place has plainly written, "The heart of men is fully set in them to do evil." Have you forgotten that striking word from Jeremiah, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked"? Well may we say, with the writer of this proverb, "He theft trusteth in his own heart is a fool," for he is trusting a deceiver; nay, he is trusting the arch-deceiver, the very chief among the deceivers. Are you going to trust in this heart of yours? Your feelings, your capabilities, your faculties — everything that you like to include in this comprehensive word, are all affected, more or less, by the fall, and yet you are prepared to trust in this rotten reed, this broken staff. When I hear some excuse themselves or their fellows by saying, "Oh, well you know, but they are good at heart," I feel like saying, "Wherever else they are good, they are not good there, for God Himself declares, 'There is none righteous, no, not one.'" So, then, we have got God's verdict concerning the human heart, and it is so emphatic, and so unflattering, that we say with the author of the proverb, "He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool."

II. Secondly, EXPERIENCE WARNS US IN THE SAME DIRECTION. We can see for ourselves, if we open our eyes, that those who trust their own hearts are fools. Should we not learn lessons from the falls and follies of others? Let me ask you who have been vigilant, Have you noticed the result of self-confidence in others? Whether it be in business matters, or social affairs, or political questions, or spiritual concerns, to what has unbounded self-confidence led men? They may have run well for awhile. It proved to be only a nine-day's wonder. It was as the crackling of thorns under a pot: there was great flare and flame, but it ended in smoke and ashes. I have met with instances, not a few, in which men have thus overrun themselves, and become filled with their own ways. It seems to me as if a Nemesis followed them. God virtually says to them, "Well, you believe in yourself; I will leave you to yourself; you trust your own heart, you can do without Me; you ask for independence — you shall have it." These men have not succeeded — they have come to grief; their supposed righteousness and self-merit did not provide them with shelter in the day of storm; it was a refuge of lies. Are you going to follow their example? Are you likely to succeed where they have failed? Such matters are influenced by certain inexorable laws. A Nemesis pursues those who proudly trust their native strength. Besides, you have had some experience of your own, have you not? Is there anybody here who has not had a try at trusting his own heart?

III. I must point out to you that SELF-TRUST IS QUITE UNNECESSARY. I can conceive that, if we were shut up to trusting our own hearts, we might be excused for doing it. God knows we must trust somebody or something! Is there not in us all the clinging tendency, a desire to get hold of somebody or something, a craving for sympathy? If there were no outside helper, stronger than ourselves, what else could we rely on but our experiences and our feelings? But there is something else infinitely better to trust to. We have no excuse for such folly as this; we are not shut up to self-confidence; there is an alternative. If I saw one on the shore launching a leaky boat upon a troubled sea, I should say to him, "Fool that thou art, to go to sea in such a sieve as that!" "Well, but," says he, "I must go to sea, necessity is laid upon me — and there is no boat but this." In that case I could only pity him: if he must embark, what can the poor fellow do but take his chance in the leaky cockleshell? Ah, but this is not our case at all. You must go to sea, and it is stormy, too, but you need not embark in this leaky craft of your own heart. God's own lifeboat stands alongside you; nay, it is already launched. You have but to leap into it; it will outride the roughest sea, and weather every storm. I do not know how it is that some people will not trust God till they are obliged to. You who have not yet got rid of sin and of its condemnation, why not trust Jehovah? Why not believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and be saved? I know you are trusting to your own heart. You say to yourself, "I do not think it is so bad after all. Sometimes it is really first-rate." Another says, "Well, my heart is not up to the mark, I know, but it is better than it was! "Well, really, friend, I am glad to hear that; but when it is at its best it is, by no means, reliable. I pray you do not say, "I think it will come all right at last." It is folly thus to talk. Look away to Jesus; trust not your own heart, but in the living God. And you, who have been brought out of darkness into His marvellous light, surely you are not going to play the fool by trusting your own heart. You, you of all men, ought to know better. You are going back to where you were at first, to self-righteousness, and self-trust! Well, I leave this question with you; are you able, despite all the experience you have had, to steer your craft across life's trackless sea, and how can you hope to outride the breakers of judgment that break upon the further shore?

(Thomas Spurgeon.)