There is a way which seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death. Proverbs 16:25

Ever since the fall of man we've been making the wrong decisions as a race - and - as individuals. The whole world was turned upside down at this event - and man has had his thinking on right and wrong completely ruined. That is what today's proverb deals with - and it is one that we should take very seriously - especially when it comes to spiritual matters - and more than anything, when it comes to salvation.

There is a way that seems right to a man. We truly blew it when we decided to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Ever wonder why this was such a huge blunder. I mean, isn't it a good thing to know the difference between what is good and what is evil? But this is not what entered into the heart of Eve, then Adam when they partook of the fruit of this infamous tree.

They ate of something forbidden by God. In fact, there was only one rule in the garden - just ONE! They were not to eat of the fruit of this one tree. But they chose to eat - and by eating brought the entire creation into futility by their choice to sin against God. We will NEVER be drawn closer to God through disobedience. That is something you can take to the bank every day you live. They were not eating of a tree that would help them know the difference between good and evil. This was not a discernment tree which would help them choose good things the rest of their life. They were wanting to partake of good and evil - they wanted the knowledge of both. The way that seems right to a man is a way that experiences good and evil - and therefore man can choose which he wants. The problem is that once he chooses to DO evil - to ACT evil - to WANT evil - he will be enslaved to it.

There is a way that seems right to a man - which includes knowing evil intimately so he thinks he will be able to choose what is best. But the reality is that the end of this way is the way of death. Jesus said that whoever sins is the slave of sin. We cannot "dabble" in this stuff enough to see the wrong of it - then consistently choose against that wrong. The wrong enslaves - and warps - and lies - and deceives - and in the end, kills.

As we look at this proverb, there is another danger in the "way that seems right to a man." This again proceeds from eating and participating in the knowledge of good and evil. Once the pair had eaten of this fruit - they knew both good and evil. That knowledge made them think that they could reject the evil, choose the good, and become acceptable to God. What was birthed at the foot of this tree was man-made religion. What came to life within the wicked breast of man in that hour was the idea that man can make himself acceptable to God by his works. Do more good than evil - and God will have to accept you. There was a false idea of God that was perpetrated by the devil there - and it was the height of wickedness. Satan said to Eve, that she would not die when she sinned - but that in having the knowledge of good and evil - she would be like God Himself! She herself would then be able to determine what is good as well as what is evil! Birthed in that infamous moment was the lying games of human philosophy as well. The thought that by the working of our own minds we could determine good and evil - as our own little gods!

Since man thought that he could determine what is right and good - there was no need for God. There was no need for the Almighty to grant revelation. We were good enough in ourselves to determine for ourselves what was right and what is wrong. Since that time the heart of man has been a veritable idol-factory. We are experts at fashioning gods of all kinds. Man is hopelessly religious - finding some god that he can worship. Problem is that according to Romans 1 - he finds worship in all the wrong places - looking for god in too many faces. Actually he even looks for God in animals - four-footed creatures - bugs - and in various self-styled versions of himself. Man eventually will have a god of his own making - who will look like, act like, and condone a lifestyle just like the one he is currently living. Anyone who has looked at the pitiful gods of the Greeks and Romans has realized that they were more lecherous and despicable than the men they supposedly ruled over on the earth. We think there is a way that seems right - but it only confirms our previously embraced wickedness and desire for sin.

Hope for mankind lies not in the fashioning of another parthenon of gods, but in communication and mercy from the One True God. There is a way that seems right to man - to each of us - but it is infinitely flawed by sin and selfishness granted to us by our descendants. We are the products of Adam and Eve - and we are after their likeness - and after their sinfulness. Hope comes when we see that God sovereignly reaches down to us and reveals Himself through His Word. There IS a way that is RIGHT - but that way belongs to God and to His revelation of Himself to us through the Scriptures. There is a way that does not lead to death - it leads to life. But that way is through God's provision of life through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. What we need is not our own ideas. We need the life of God - the righteousness of God - and the kindness of God which leads us to repentance. God has made a way - but it is His way. He has made a way - but He did not consult with us as to what it was going to be. When man was embroiled in his sin - in fact before man ever existed or had sinned - God provided a lamb, slain from the foundation of the world. Salvation was - and ever is His idea - His provision - and His act of mercy and grace to us. Oh, that we will remember that - and daily worship Him for His wonderful grace in Jesus Christ.

Folly is joy to him who lacks sense, But a man of understanding walks straight.   Proverbs 15:21

All it takes is watching a normal evening of television to know that folly and fools are exalted in our entertainment.  We see them every evening, ignoring the warnings of God's Word.  Yet night by night we also sit and watch them and laugh at their antics.  We laugh even though there are times when the direction of the program and its heros is absolutely contrary to Scripture.  What happens in a nation when this is the case?

Ours used to be a culture that confirmed our values in our entertainment.  Shows like, "Leave it to Beaver" and "The Andy Griffith Show" tended to confirm our values and beliefs about righteousness and godliness.  They did not proclaim Christ, but they at least held to a certain standard on what was right and wrong.  Then something started to happen in the 60's.  Those in the entertainment industry abandoned godly values and things like strong families and morals.  We exalted the anti-hero and began to plumb the depths of the depravity of man and call it entertainment.  Then shows like "All in the Family" arose which allowed only hypocrites to be those who spoke of what had been known as family values.  From there things continued to descend into the pit - as sexuality became a consistent theme.  Now just about any and every vice is portrayed for us in dramas and sitcoms - and often they are extolled as main characters hold to these sins.  All the while our culture sits and laughs and finds a false joy in all these parading fools and their folly. 

When we read this proverb it might be easy to think that it refers to others, but I fear that it comes much closer to home.  The devil has used this medium well to give us ample opportunity to sit and actually mock our own values.  This is why it is so dangerous to have unfiltered viewing habits as to television and movies. 

We read of another kind of person in this passage though.  He is a man of understanding.  This word speaks of someone who sees as he ought to see.  He grasps the Word of God - understands it and grasps what it teaches.  As a result he does not get off the path that God has for him - and indeed for all who desire to know and love Him.  He walks straight - and does not turn his eyes or gaze to the right or to the left.  He fixes his eyes on the goal - which is conformity to the character and the way of Jesus Christ.  Even though the world may seek to get his attention and turn it from the Lord Jesus Christ - he does not listen.  He deafens his ears to the siren call of the world which will only land a man on the rocks of destruction in the end.  He has tuned his ears to hearing the voice of God.  He has learned to be a sheep who hears the Great Shepherd - and follow Him.  Wise indeed is the man who sets his heart and mind in this way.  

Righteousness exalts a nation, But sin is a disgrace to any people.   Proverbs 14:34

Today we look at how a nation is blessed or disgraced.  According to our proverb righteousness or doing what is right exalts a nation.  Therefore, if we want to be exalted and blessed, we must choose consistently what is right.  But our nation faces a serious problem when it comes to this proverb.  We no longer believe in a right and a wrong.  Having bought the post-modern mindset hook, line, and sinker, we now believe that there is nothing more to believe in except what we want to believe in.  Truth is in the eye of the beholder.  Therefore we no longer hold to an absolute right and wrong.  We no longer have a moral code that governs the hearts of men.

Our courts have decided that what is truly dangerous in our nation is to publicly display the 10 commandments so that school children can see them and read them.  Never mind that one of the writers of our Constitution said that we have placed our hope in our ability to obey these Laws of God.  Never mind that though we openly persecute the Christian moral code, we openly teach other religions in our classrooms under the guise of multiculturalism.  It is dangerous to tell children not to murder, not to steal, not to lie or commit adultery.  Thus we have our current modern dilemma.  A society that decries the lack of civility as new acts of violence shock us worse that the previous ones that maudelinly decorated our newpapers and newcasts just weeks earlier.  We wonder why kids would go into schools and wantonly kill each other.  We are shocked at the debauchery of the generation that is coming up - astonished at their lack of conscience as they commit crimes with an ever-increasing display of horror. 

We don't get it.  Righteousness exalts a nation!  We must return to an absolute truth that lays down absolute morals by which we are to live.  What is astounding to me though is that such a righteousness will degenerate in one generation if all we rely upon is the rule of law to do it.  We are incapable of righteousness in our own strength.  Righteousness will only come by grace through faith.  It comes to us as we turn from our own sinful and selfish ways and turn to Jesus Christ - the One Who came to die for our sins.  It comes to us only as God's grace reaches out to us and grants us life.  Thus we find that the righteousness that will exalt our nation will only come with a return to the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Then we are saved - we are redeemed - we are regenerated so that we desire to do God's will.  Without the gospel law will break down into moralistic teachings taught by hypocrites who do not even do the things they teach others.  The sad reality though is that we as a nation have legislated the gospel out of our society.

There is a false teaching that exists in the legislative world called the separation of church and state.  This supposed wall exists in the interpretation that some pseudo-scholars have invented about the First Ammendment to the Constitution.  That ammendment was put there to keep the state out of the churches' buisness.  It was put there so that we would not have a state run church.  Unfortunately it has been misinterpretted to mean that any open expression of Christianity within any state run or funded activity is prohibited.  Thus our legislators have inadvertently chosen a state religion for all of us.  It is the lack of God in our nation - at least the God of the Bible.  So . . . our national religion is now either atheism and its more ignoranty companion, agnosticism - or it is any other religion than Christianity.  What our founders sought to protect has been used in such a way as to openly persecute and wantonly disintegrate the faith that most of them held when they wrote it.

It should not shock us that we are a nation that has shunned righteousness.  The churches did not hold fast the truth and spread the gospel.  The corresponding lack of believers in the land, or worse, the proliferation of false believers who misuse and abuse the Scriptures, has led to a dearth of them in office.  The lack of a Christian presence among the governing elite of our land has lead to a lack of respect for our founders' faith.  Thus we have become a people who more and more legislate sin as the new righteousness of our land.  We have decided to say that it is open season on unwanted babies and call it abortion - or a woman's right to choose.  We have decided to destroy the black community and the poor by saying that we will allow a welfare state that rewards sexual promiscuity and having babies out of wedlock.  We also have decided that work is no longer a sacred duty - but act like it is mercy to provide a living without requiring labor.  We no longer call heterosexual immorality what God calls it - fornication - but feel that sleeping together or living together is a more genteel way of designating it.  Rather than encourage faithfulness in marriage, we have advocated easy divorce and speak of blended families rather than broken ones.  We have decided that homosexuality is not an abomination - no! - it is an alternate lifestyle.  It even needs to be taught to the youngest of our children as a wonderful alternative to the straight people who are so hateful as to hold a biblical viewpoint.  Our banks and businesses fail because we have reared a generation of crooks who no longer think that, "Thou shalt not steal" applies to them.  Scandal after scandal rocks our statehouses and churchhouses as the concept of integrity in leadership fades as a mere memory of the past. 

Does all this kind of shock and depress you?  It should because sin is a disgrace to any people.  To live like we have lived is to be disgraceful.  To reject the living God for the idols of our current generation is an act of foolishness.  It is foolish becuse we have rejected the Fountain of Living Waters to hew cisterns, broken ones, that can hold no water.  Even history mocks our choices as we ignore the civilizations that have fallen before us.  We turn a blind eye to the same sins that portended their demise and characterized the rot from within that toppled them. 

We need to turn to God in prayer - humbling ourselves, praying, seeking His face, and turning from our wicked ways.  We need a national revival first in our churches.  They need to return to the faith of our fathers - seeing Christianity as the truth - and Jesus as the only way of salvation from a selfish and self-gratifying lifestyle.  Even more than this we must remember that we will stand in God's judgment - which has already begun.  We need to fear God which is the beginning of wisdom for us - and for our nation.  Then we need a nation-shaking spiritual awakening that sees millions come to Christ.  If we do not see such a thing - we are doomed to the ash heap of societies.  Written over us in the end will be the same words written over Babylon - "Mene, Mene, Teckel, Upharsin."  America has been weighed in the scales and found wanting.  We will fall to another rising power with another statement written as our postscript.  "Here lies the United States of America in ruins for she turned from righteousness and chose sin . . . which is a disgrace for any people."

Adversity pursues sinners, But the righteous will be rewarded with prosperity. Proverbs 13:21

When we sin, we are setting loose a nemesis who will hunt us down to bring us the adversity that our sin produces. That is a rather disconcerting thought - but still one that is true. When we decide to depart from the Lord for a period to pursue the fleeting pleasures of sin, we are paving with our own hands the road that adversity and retribution will walk to our door. This is why the wise man considers the end of a choice before he makes it.

Consider David in regard to this matter. He thought he was only lingering on the sight of Batsheba bathing for a lustful look. He did not know that the look would lead to a desire which would lead to a choice to bring her to his chambers. He did not know that this choice would lead to adultery with another man's wife - which would lead to a pregnancy that promised a scandal in the kingdom. He did not know that asking her husband to return from battle would lead to seeing Uriah's character and godliness far exceed his own. He did not know that this would lead to his order to have Uriah killed by the hand of the Ammonites as he reacted in panic about what to do. He had no idea that all of this would lead to a year of his life spent in spiritual agony as the Holy Spirit convicted him of his sin - and drained him of life itself. He couldn't even imagine that his little look - his brief indiscretion of lust would lead to two dead sons, a raped daughter, and 10 women locked away as widows for life. He did not see in his departure from pure eyes that several men would be killed with Uriah at the wall - and that thousands would die in a battle between himself and his rebellious son. If anything David thought this "little look" might result in a brief departure from God's will. He had no idea that he was paving a superhighway for adversity, pain, and regret that would last for many years to come. He was clueless that in that moment he was releasing a beast that would pursue him relentlessly until adversity would nearly overwhelm him as he trudged up a mountainside, cursed by a fool, and feeling that he was one because of the sin that had finally caught up with him. Indeed adversity pursues sinners.

We are not left hopeless though with this proverb. We are also reminded that the righteous will be rewarded with prosperity. David was pursued with adversity by his sin - but he was also blessed for his godly obedience. He deserved death for his transgressions, yet God showed him mercy. He was able to amass tremendous riches and wealth for the construction of the temple during the time of his son Solomon. He was blessed not just during his time on earth - but for all time by the fact that one of his descendents would be the Messiah. There is tremendous blessing that will come to the godly.

There is no better illustration of this than the gospel message itself. We read here that "the righteous" will be rewarded. Yet our problem is that we are sinners - not righteous. There is no way we can be righteous by our works or by God's law. But when we were helpless Christ died for the ungodly. He can make us righteous - having been the One who became sin for us - so that we might be made righteous because of God's gift of salvation. Because of the gospel we are righteous in God's sight - but only because a gift of God's grace was bestowed on us when we responded in repentance and faith to the gospel message. Our passge here reminds us that the righteous will be rewarded with "prosperity." The word for prosperity here means entering into a wholeness and restored relationship with God. Too many think prosperity means money and wealth - but we must remember that the greatest riches we can have are those that come in spiritual blessings arising from a renewed relationship with God.

We face one of two choices - which results in one of two ends. We can choose sin and rebellion which sets off a chase in which the sinner or rebel will be hunted down for a visit from adversity. We can also choose to embrace God's way of righteousness through the gospel. This will set off a much different kind of pursuit. This sets in motion the grace of God working in us throughout out lives here on earth. His grace will bless us with spiritual prosperity here on earth - but also will culminate with His blessing on the day of judgment as well. The wise man knows that sin and rebellion set loose the hounds of adversity. That is why he chooses instead to set loose the spirit of blessing in his life by the gospel.

The way of the LORD is a stronghold to the upright, But ruin to the workers of iniquity.  Proverbs 10:29

There is a lifestyle that comes with knowing and walking with the Lord.  That lifestyle is laid out for us in the Scriptures as we read of the things that God loves and also the things that He hates.  The proverb for today refers to these things as "the way of Jehovah."  Let's take a look at this today and hopefully become wiser as a result.

The word "way" here is the Hebrew word "derek" which refers to a way, a path, a road - and is used often to speak of a way of walking or living.  That is why when we see this word we should think of a lifestyle that one has due to the daily choices they make.  The way or lifestyle of which we speak is that of the Lord.  This word is Jehovah - which is the covenant name of God.  So often in Scripture God will speak with His chosen people and lay out a covenant promise.  These are usually worded as "if-then" statements.  If you will follow the Lord, then He will bless you.  What God seeks to do when He says these things is not set up a works mentality in our relationship with Him.  What He is seeking to do is to encourage us to understand that making choices consistent with His Word and way will bring great blessing to our lives. 

We are told here that this way of Jehovah - is a stronghold to the upright.  The word for stronghold is the Hebrew word "maoz."  It speaks of a fortress.  That fortress is considered a shelter, a refuge, and a place of great safety.  It is one that often worked in two ways.  It provided natural defense points - but also was situated in such a way that one could easily see the enemy approaching.  This gave those in the stronghold protection - and it gave them time to prepare for the coming enemy onslaught.  Scripture indicates that God is that fortress - as well as our strength and defense (Psalm 27:1).  As we walk with Him in His way - we will find a natural defense against sin - as well as warnings about the enemy and how he will seek to tempt us and get us to rebel against God.  As we learn that "way" our lives will be changed by God's Word and His power.  We will be delivered from sin - and will better know how to escape the lies of the devil daily.

But the same "way of the Lord" that is a stronghold to the upright - is ruin to those who choose to rebel against God.  The word "iniquity" is very important for us to understand if we are to grasp the protection of God afforded to us by walking in His way.  The word is from the Hebrew word "awen" and it means, "nothingness, mischief, emptiness, and vanity."  The word is used to signify those who pursue meaningless things.  They do not walk in God's Word or in God's way.  They choose instead ungodliness - which leads them to chase after falsehood.  God told us His Word is truth.  That protects us - but it also speaks ruin for those who decide they prefer deceit and the lies of this world and of the devil.  Another way "awen" is used is to signify an idol - which tells us clearly that those who run after iniquity have made a god of their own.  They are worshipping an idol they have created - and prefer to have their idol confirm "their own" truth - as opposed to living by the truth of God - His Word.  This is the ruin of the ungodly.  They will receive no protection from God's way.  Instead they will run headlong into God's wrath and judgment for their disobedience and deceitful choices. 

Two ways are put before us in today's proverb.  There is the way of making your own god and deciding your own truth.  Such a way is foolish because it only amplifies the rebellion that is in the human heart due to the Fall of man.  That way will ruin those who follow it.  The other way is to choose a truth outside of ourselves.  It is to realize the truth is not in us - it is in God.  Therefore we choose to turn to Him.  We choose to turn to the way He has given us His truth - the Word of God.  We also choose daily to walk by His truth (the truth) knowing that by doing so we will have a refuge, a protection, indeed a stronghold to keep us from evil - and to keep us FOR fellowship with our loving, gracious God.

Doing wickedness is like sport to a fool, and so is wisdom to a man of understanding.   Proverbs 10:23

One of the things I find funny is that Christians try to convince people who are lost that they can still have fun and be a Christian.  It is as if they think that people will come to Christ if we can convince them they still will have a blast once they come to repentance and faith.  It reduces the problem of the human condition to what can provide the most fun while on earth.  If that were the case, the biggest denomination in the world would be Six-Flagsists, Disneyists, and Xboxians.  The truth is that for a man who is ungodly - doing wickedness is joy and laughter - and the same is true for the discerning man and his view of wisdom.

We are not that accustom to the word, "sport" as it is used here.  The word comes from the Hebrew word "sehoq" which means laughter.  But this is a laughter of derision and ridicule.  It is a laughter used to make fun of someone or something.  What we are speaking of here is how the wicked do their evil - and laugh and deride God and His law.  They laugh at righteousness and joke about it.  They make fun of those who have standards and whose desire is to do what is godly and righteous.  Let me give a few examples of this.

When the abstinence movement came out, the wicked mocked it mercilessly.  They mocked virgins - and decided that anyone who was still a virgin at 18 to 20 years of age must have something wrong with them.  They mocked the idea of waiting for sex until marriage.  They argued that a person should be able to test drive a car before buying it - referring to the consummation of marriage in crassest of terms, as if you were buying a car, not choosing a life-mate.  They defended an immoral president in the 1990's by saying that everyone does what he did – and - they also lie about it when caught.  They mocked the idea of a child needing a father and a mother when a TV character in the 1990's decided to get pregnant and have a baby without a father.  They mock everything that is holy - and deride anyone who stands in the way of their immoral agenda for our nation and especially its children. 

We need to remind ourselves that the people who do these things are fools.  They have no understanding.  They are ignorant and oblivious to a holy God and His judgments.  They may mock the morals that we have - but when society continues to fall apart - and when the statistics come in as to why it is falling apart - their actions will be seen those of fools with no understandings against the backdrop of failure and disfunction that they engender.

The man of understanding takes an equal delight and joy in wisdom.  As the fool celebrates wickedness and mocks holiness - so the man who has discernment delights in God's wisdom.  The man of understanding is the man who has discernment.  The idea here is of a man who looks at something and determines its end and consequences.  Seeing this, he turns away from wickedness and makes his decisions on the basis of God's wisdom.  His discernment comes from the Scriptures.  This guides him into wise decisions.  It also tells him to shun and even mock those decisions that embrace what God has judged on the cross - and will judge at the end of the age.  This man allows discernment to turn him to the right and true way.  He sees the reward - and delights in it. 

As I close the thoughts on today's proverb, let me re-visit my first comments of today.  Too many do try to make the gospel more palatable by saying that we can have as much fun as the wicked.  This is based on a faulty understanding of the nature of man.  The wicked delight in their wickedness - because they are still wicked.  Christians delight in holiness because they have been born again.  Having had their hearts changed by the gospel - they now delight in things that delight the heart of God.  It is impossible for an unsaved man to truly delight in these things.  His heart is captive to his sin.  Until He is saved, he will not truly value righteousness. 

This proverb ultimately is about salvation – not the lifestyle that is the most fun on earth.  Paul said it best when he said that if we only have this life to hope in Christ - we are to be pitied most of all men.  If Jesus is not Who He says He is - then we should eat, drink, and party because tomorrow we die.  The reason we embrace Christ is not for a superior life here on earth - but because there IS a judgment coming.  Without Christ that judgment WILL BE HORRIFIC!  We embrace Christ because we have sinned and, without the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ to pay for our sin, we will be judged and sent to hell.  All the rest happens WHEN we are saved.  We enjoy different things because our heart is different.  We enjoy righteousness because we are fundamentally different because of God's grace.  The wicked will always delight in their sin - and the discerning will delight in godliness.  The difference comes not in which is more fun - but rather in whether a man's heart has been redeemed and changed by God's grace.  May we be among those discerning.  May we be among those with understanding.  May we be among those transformed by grace - and given a whole different outlook on what is fun - what is enjoyable - and mostly, on what is better in eternity.

"But he who sins against me injures himself; All those who hate me love death." Proverbs 8:36

What happens when we do not live according to the wisdom of God?  What happens when we reject God's view of things - beginning with His work in creation - and then widening to include an ever greater rejection of what He says and commands?  That is what today's Proverb tackles. 

This proverb meantions two views of God's wisdom.  The first is to sin against wisdom.  The second is to hate it.  This speaks progressively of where we go in life as we convince ourselves that it is OK to reject the wisdom of God.  The first step is to sin against wisdom.  The word used for "sin" here means to miss the mark.  Things begin as we miss the mark concerning what God says.  It starts as simple as rejecting a command of God - or questioning whether we can even trust what God says.  We miss the mark.  The Hebrew word is "hata" and it means to miss the mark - but it also means to go wrong, to sin.  The word was used of those who would miss the mark as archers or slingers.  They would miss the target.  But it also meant someone who would fail to reach a goal.  Some miss wisdom by simply being ignorant of it - or not having any desire to read or study God's Word so as to grow in it.  Their missing the mark, though unintentional at first - grows into a basic level of ignorance which is willfull.  They see no real need to get God's wisdom - seeing that they think so highly of their own.  They will do just fine in their own thinking - therefore to spend time studying to know God's viewpoint is silly and unnecessary.

When we live like this, the Bible tells us that we "injure" ourselves.  Injure is the Hebew word "hamas" and it means to be violent - or to act violently or wrongly.  It was used to describe unethical behavior.  When we miss wisdom - we are hurting ourselves.  It is not just an error we are committing - we are hurting and injuring ourselves.  To reject God's wisdom is injurious to our well-being because God's ways are always best for us.  This comes back to seeing that God created us - and therefore knows exactly what we need and what is the way we should live.  If we are just the sum of purely accidental happenings over billions of years - it really does not matter what we do.  Everything is meaningless anyway.  But if we are the creation of God - there is not only a purpose - but a plan for us to follow to become what we were created to be and to do what we were created to do.

The latter stages of mankind's rejection of God is to eventually hate wisdom.  At first the wicked are just annoyed by the wisdom of God.  They are annoyed at a being who would claim absolute power, wisdom, and authority.  But soon that annoyance would grow to become anger - and anger will give rise to hatred.  The hatred grows out of a rejection of the notion that anyone or anything besides us have the right to control or even comment on our lives.  The more one runs up against God's commands and against the consequences of rejecting them - the more they resent the God Who wrote them.  That is why any sin - embraced long enough will bring us to the point of hating God.  It is alway why the Word of God says in James chapter 4 that friendship with the world is enmity against God - the one who loves the world, hates God. 

We are told that those who follow their sin to this point are ones who "love death."  God came to give us life and life abundantly.  His Word and His wisdom are filled with life.  When we embrace it we receive an abundance of life and joy.  But when we reject it - we begin to love death.  It is fascinating to see how the more a society rejects God - the more it begins to embrace self-destructive, even death-loving behavior.  This makes perfect sense when we see that a rejection of wisdom is the love of death. 

May God give us grace to learn to love His wisdom.  May we learn to treasure what He says to us - and to also treasure what His Word relates concerning the origins of all that He has made.  These choices will lead us to love and embrace God's wisdom.  To do otherwise is to love death.  We've watched our society reject God's wisdom over the years - and also embrace a culture of death more and more.  May we be those who embrace wisdom - the the overflow of life that comes with it.

Then I was beside Him, as a master workman; And I was daily His delight, Rejoicing always before Him,   Proverbs 8:30

As we come to the close of this section of Proverbs that relates for us the viewpoint of wisdom as God created this world, we come to a description of this process that begs a very fundamental question.  I will pose this question in scientific terms.  Was the second law of thermodynamics a fundamental part of this world immediately after the fall - or did this law only come into place after our world had fully developed into what it is today? 

Why would I ask such a question?  It is because those in the field of Physics (and honestly every other field except philosophy nowadays) tell us that there is a fundamental law at work in our world that says that things go from a state of  order to disorder.  Said another way - the world around us - and we ourselves - are gradually falling apart and getting into a more disoriented state every day.  This is the second law of thermodynamics.  The reason I say that this question begs to be asked - is because for evolutionary theory to be right as an explanation of origins of this world - this fundamental law would have to have been suspended for billions of years.  Instead of things moving from order to disorder, evolutionary theory states that things are getting better and better. 

There is another reason why this question begs to be asked, and that is because of what God says about His work of creation - even here in Proverbs 8:30-3.  Here we read that wisdom worked beside God as a "master workman."  The term here means someone who is a master artificer - or a master builder.  Thus this presents a very difficult problem for those who would like to fuse God with evolutionary theory for their understanding of origins.  The fundamental problem is that God represents creation as a work of perfection.  In Genesis we read that everything God made was good.  He did not make something and then decide that it needed to be continually improved over billions of years.  He said that the way He made it was good.  This means that it was perfect - until the fall of man into sin.  At that point we see that things begin to deteriorate quickly.  There is a fundamental breakdown of what God made as good - as sin - and as death enters into our world.  There is a fundamental breakdown of DNA so that diseases and problems result.  God's version of origins is that things were made good - but sin has caused a systematic breakdown of all things as they move toward more death and more disorder. 

What I find fascinating about all this is that God's view of things fits perfectly with the second law of thermodynamics.  Things are - and have pretty much always have been moving from tha state of order to disorder.  God explains this by introducing us to the event where man sinned and grieved God - and death entered into our world.  Under the description that wisdom gives us things fit quite well with the "laws" of the universe.  But that should not really shock us all that much - because just one verse earlier we had learned that these laws were written by none other than our God Himself.  Amazing how those things go together isn't it?