Proverbs 1:27 (Mini Sermon)

---

 

27. Pro 1:27 - "When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you." A. The LORD elaborates on the calamity (Pro 1:26) that will surely befall the foolish who despise His reproof. B. God expounds on the fear which would come upon them "as desolation." i. Fear n. - 1. In OE.: A sudden and terrible event; peril. 2. a. The emotion of pain or uneasiness caused by the sense of impending danger, or by the prospect of some possible evil. ii. Fear is debilitating and "hath torment" (1Jo 4:18). a. Lions use the paralyzing effect of fear when they creep up on their prey and roar causing their victim to freeze up momentarily while they go in for the kill. b. Satan uses fear to overcome his prey as a roaring lion walking about, seeking whom he may devour (1Pe 5:8). iii. Those who refuse the reproof of God's words and reject His commandments have not the love of God in them (Joh 5:42) which casts out fear (1Jo 4:18). C. The consequence of defiance of God is fear: and not just any fear, but fear that cometh as desolation (Pro 1:27). i. Desolation n. - 1. The action of laying waste a land, etc., destroying its people, crops, and buildings, and making it unfit for habitation; utter devastation; an act or occasion of this kind. ii. The fear that will come upon foolish men who disregard and mock God's warnings will cause them utter destruction and devastation. iii. Their destruction will come as a whirlwind (a tornado). a. A tornado will wreck a man's house. b. Crippling fear will wreck a man's life. c. Both will bring him to nought. D. This tornadic fear, which the LORD promises will come upon rebels, will cause them distress and anguish. i. Distress n. - I. †1. a. The action or fact of straining or pressing tightly, strain, stress, pressure; fig. pressure employed to produce action, constraint, compulsion; less usually, pressure applied to prevent action, restraint. 2. a. The sore pressure or strain of adversity, trouble, sickness, pain, or sorrow; anguish or affliction affecting the body, spirit, or community. b. with a and pl. A sore trouble, a misfortune or calamity that presses hardly; esp. in pl. straits, distressing or strained circumstances. ii. Anguish n. - 1. Excruciating or oppressive bodily pain or suffering, such as the sufferer writhes under. iii. Notice again that it is not if fear, distress, and anguish come upon foolish sinners who reject God's word, but when. E. This description of the fear, desolation, destruction, distress, and anguish that comes upon those who ignore God's word should make every man that fears God stop dead in his tracks, repent, and reverse course. i. But fools will disregard (Pro 14:16) and suffer for it (Psa 107:17). ii. They will eventually call upon Him, but not until it's too late as the next verse shows.