Be not afraid of sudden fear, neither of the destruction of the wicked, when it cometh;
The verses just before this promise a safe walk and quiet sleep to the young person who keeps wisdom in view. Now the verse turns to what breaks sleep: a shock that arrives with no warning. The question is not whether sudden terror will come. It is why the verse tells the one who fears God, ahead of time, not to be shaken by it.
The command not to fear comes at the end of a run of promises. Each promise answers a danger, as one writer sums up:
Change is a snare, and the young feel it most. So the LORD's wise ways were not to leave their eyes, any more than they were to be wise in their own eyes. Life within and honour before others would follow. The walk would be safe, and the foot would not stumble. The night would bring no fear, but sweet sleep. Alarm would not take them by surprise when the storm falls on the wicked. The LORD is the confidence against all snares and terrors.
Fear has a cause. We live in a world whose course we cannot see and cannot control. The answer is not information about the future. It is a heart at rest with the One who holds it:
Walking this way keeps confidence in the Lord alive in the heart: "If our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God." The believer is a stranger from God in this world, and the power of evil is in the world. Fear goes with it, because the spirit of man does not know its course, or the hidden power that guides it. Walking in holy subjection before God is our wisdom. So we can trust Him who is over all, without whom not a sparrow falls to the ground. It is not that we know what is coming, but that we know the Lord is there, who rules and orders everything. Nothing merely happens to us: God's hand is in everything, and we trust Him.
Commentators differ on the second half of the verse. Kelly, above, reads it as the storm that falls on the wicked. Another reads it as the trouble the wicked cause, a threat as real today as then:
In the days of Solomon there was clearly the threat of "sudden terror," as there is today. But the one who holds on to sound wisdom from God has no reason to be afraid, or to worry about trouble from the wicked. The Lord is the confidence of the child of wisdom, and He will keep our feet from the snares that are so often laid.
Being kept has much to do with where the eyes look. The danger is subtle: you can lose your footing not by staring at disaster, but by watching how well the wicked are doing.
First, the soul learns that, when he looks to the LORD for help, the LORD will keep him in the middle of every danger. If we take our eyes off the LORD and get taken up with the passing prosperity of the wicked, we may have to say, like the man of Psalm 73, "My feet had almost stumbled, my steps had nearly slipped." Looking to the LORD and rejoicing in Him, we will be able to say, with Hannah of old, "He will guard the feet of His faithful ones … for not by might shall a man prevail" (1 Sam. 2:1, 9).
The next verse names what steadies him: the LORD as his confidence. One definition of that word also names its opposite:
The trust and boldness that faith in God and His word gives. "In the fear of the LORD one has strong confidence"; "the LORD will be your confidence." Prov. 3:26; Prov. 14:26. In contrast to this the "fearful" are classed with the "unbelieving." Rev. 21:8.
The same warning reaches its widest point at the end of the age. One day will split the world in two:
How solemn the twofold aspect of this day! On the world it will burst as suddenly and unexpectedly as a thief in the night. Under Satan's delusion they feed their hearts with thoughts of peace and safety, counting on the stability of things around them. Sudden destruction will come upon them, like labour pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. On the other side there is no fear for the believer in this prospect, for the simple reason that he is not in darkness.
- Sudden. The verse does not deny the shock. It denies its right to control the one who fears God.
- Wisdom. Keep sound wisdom in view and it gives a safe walk, sweet sleep, and no panic when the storm breaks.
- Confidence. Steadiness does not come from knowing the future. It comes from knowing the Lord is there and orders everything.
- Eyes. Fix them on the passing prosperity of the wicked and your steps nearly slip. Fix them on the LORD and He guards your foot.
- End. The same day that bursts on a world saying "peace and safety" holds no fear for the believer, who is not in darkness.
for Jehovah shall be thy confidence, and he will keep thy foot from being taken.
Proverbs 3 urges the young learner to hold on to wisdom, promising a safe walk and quiet sleep. Verse 26 gives the reason: safety rests on a Person, not on the learner's care, and it guards the one place a traveller cannot watch — his own foot.
The word is not optimism about outcomes. It describes what faith produces in a person who has taken God at His word:
The trust and boldness that faith in God and His word gives. "In the fear of the LORD one has strong confidence"; "the LORD will be your confidence." Prov. 3:26; Prov. 14:26. "We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end." Heb. 3:14. In contrast, the "cowardly" are grouped with the "faithless." Rev. 21:8.
That confidence has one object, so it cannot be shared with man. Sometimes God brings us to the place where we learn this:
There are moments when God makes us feel that we cannot rely on man but only on Him. Often we have comfort from men. "God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus." But we must not rely on man. So there are moments when we have to say "all mankind are liars," and we are thrown back on the Lord.
One promise builds on another through the passage: inward life, outward honour, a steady walk, quiet nights, and calm when disaster strikes others:
Change is a snare to the young above all. So the Lord's wise ways were not to depart from their eyes, and they were not to be wise in their own eyes. Life within, honour before others, would follow. The walk would be secure, and the foot would not stumble. Nor would the night bring fear, but sweet sleep. Nor would alarm take them by surprise when the storm falls on the wicked, for the Lord is the confidence against all snares and terrors.
To keep the foot "from being caught" pictures a trap set for it, not just a slip. That danger did not end with Solomon's day:
In the days of Solomon there was clearly the threat of "sudden terror," as there is today. But one who holds on to sound wisdom from God has no reason to be afraid, or to worry about trouble from the wicked. The Lord is the confidence of the child of wisdom, and He will keep our feet from the snares that are so often laid.
The foot follows the eye. The keeping happens inside danger, not away from it, and it hangs on where the eye rests:
The soul learns that, looking to the LORD for help, he will be kept safe in all dangers... If we take our eyes off the LORD and become occupied with the passing prosperity of the wicked, we may have to say, like the man of Psalm 73, "My feet had almost stumbled; my steps had nearly slipped." Looking to the LORD and rejoicing in the LORD, we shall be able to say, with Hannah long ago, "He will guard the feet of His faithful ones… for not by might shall a man prevail" (1 Sam. 2:1, 9).
This confidence does not work by showing us what is coming. It works by settling who is in charge of what comes:
The believer is a stranger from God in this world, and the power of evil is in the world. Fear comes with that power, for its course is unknown to the spirit of man, and so is the secret power that guides it. Walking in holy subjection before God is our wisdom. So we can trust Him who is over all. Not a sparrow falls to the ground without Him. It is not that we know what is coming, but that we know the Lord is there, who rules and orders everything. Nothing happens to us by chance: God's hand is in everything; and we trust Him.
The Lord Himself is the confidence, so help is never far away. He is at hand the moment the ground turns slippery:
How good it is to realise there is a Friend beside me, to whom I can turn. He has all wisdom to guide in every difficulty and all the power to overcome every opposition. He has all sympathy in every sorrow, all grace for every weakness, and mercy for every need.
- Confidence defined — It is the trust and boldness that faith in God and His word gives. It rests on a Person, not on a good forecast.
- Confidence transferred — God lets human support fail at times, so that we lean on Him alone.
- Confidence guarding — The snare is real and still set today. He keeps the feet of those who hold on to His wisdom.
- Confidence tested — Feet start to slide when the eye turns from the Lord to the prosperity of the wicked, as Psalm 73 shows.
- Confidence rewarded — We do not see the future, but we know who governs it. So the walk is secure, the night is quiet, and sudden alarm finds no foothold.