"All the utterances of my mouth are in righteousness; There is nothing crooked or perverted in them. "They are all straightforward to him who understands, And right to those who find knowledge. Proverbs 8:8-9
Ah yes, that sticky doctrine of infallibility of Scripture rises again with a statement made by Wisdom. God is speaking in this passage as wisdom is personified. God is calling out to men and women everywhere to listen and to open their hearts to receive the wisdom that God wants to grant to them. Wisdom is awaiting them at home, in the workplace, in the market, where the two roads diverge in the wood (with thanks to Robert Frost). But the question should rightly be asked, "Can we trust what Wisdom says to us in all these situations?" ALL the utterances of my mouth are in righteousness! Well there is an answer for us. Wisdom cannot lie to us - cannot mislead us - will not deceive us! Every utterance - every word from the mouth of God given in wisdom is righteous (that means they are all in a state of being RIGHT!). What is even better is that we next read, "There is nothing crooked or perverted in them." Crooked here means to twist something - and it speaks of those who are shrewd and cunning - those who are devious and who wrestle the truth in a direction that is to their liking. God does not work like this. Holiness means that God's motives are utterly transparent. He may speak things in a mystery - but He never speaks things with devious or cunning intent. What drives Him is His love - and His passion for righteousness and for His own glory. Perverted here is the Hebrew word "iqqesh" which means something crooked and perverse. It describes one with a deceitful, perverse, and evil heart. The person like this perverts morals, social graces, even religious things for underhanded purposes. Once again - God knows nothing of this kind of mindset or motive. We read further of His heart in verse 9. All God's utterances - His Word - are straightforward. In the vernacular of our day - God shoots straight with us. The idea behind this word is honesty. It also has with it the idea of someone who is incapable of being perverted or being partial in their judgment. Something we all need to grasp is that ultimately God is worthy of all glory - therefore - what He does is ultimately to display His own glory. What we don't grasp is that God is not being in any way conceited by doing this. To be conceited, God would have to be gaining or seeking glory that is not rightfully His. The truth is - all glory is rightfully His - all the time - in every situation - and from every person that has ever lived or ever will live - period! Therefore God speaks the truth - and He does so with absolute honesty - and with a view to the absolute best at all times. Now there is something that would be nice to have. Someone Who will never be partial to anything but the very best. Someone Who knows what needs to happen, what needs to be said, what needs to be addressed - and does so every single time with wisdom, with tact, and with razor sharp accuracy. But we need to note that this ability to see God in this way is for those who "understand." There is a discernment that takes us beyond fleshly, earthly wisdom that is necessary for men to understand the straightforwardness of God at all times. You see all the time in liberal circles men and women who don't understand - and who accuse God of the most horrific sins and the most terrible motives. The fact is that they DON'T udnerstand and are blind the true nature of God. This understanding comes from the work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts and minds. Without Him and without God's gracious work in us - we will never understand. Our minds and hearts are perverted and twisted by sin. It is only when God's grace is manifest to us that we are transformed - and that our sinful tendencies are no longer dominant in our thinking. God is offering wisdom to us every day - in a myriad of situations where we need it. The truly wise man is the one who submits himself to God - and learns to listen at the crossroads as God instructs him in how to live and how to walk. May we be such men and women - and may we be blessed by the wonderful straightfoward words of God!
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That they may keep you from an adulteress, From the foreigner who flatters with her words. Proverbs 7:5
We begin to grasp why wisdom and understanding need to be our sister and kinsman redeemer when we see the way that the adulteress seeks to capture men. The wise father here is offering very sage advice to his son - in an effort to rescue him from the snares of immoral women who would capture him with their wiles. Wisdom and understanding keep us from the adulteress. There is something we need to hear in our day - or any day for that matter. If a man does not walk in this world with his spirit open to the Holy Spirit - he will have the normal abnormalcy of walking in his flesh. I call this normal - because it is the state of all who come into this world. I call it abnormalcy because that was not how God originally made man - nor is it where God wants us to be. Too many men, young and old, walk blind to spiritual realities. This makes them sitting ducks for immorality and every other kind of vice common to mankind. It is only seeing things from God's perspective that will guard us from the adulteress. Thus we need to think in cooperation with the Holy Spirit who desires to give us wisdom and understanding - not with our desires and with our labido. We need to be guarded and protected . . . from ourselves. This "strange woman," which is what the Hebrew literally says, is a foreigner. This term may surprise you, but it has more to do with a "spiritual" foreigner than any kind of nationality issues. God warned Israel about the nations that surrounded her because their daughters would intermarry with Israel's sons. God's concern was that this situation would result in Israel's sons worshipping the false god's that these women worshipped. As a result, these sons would turn from the Lord and follow the false gods of the nations instead of the one true God, Jehovah. The adulteress has a secret weapon in her arsenal. It is one that God warns us of - and yet still hundreds and thousands of men fall for it every day. She "flatters" with her words. Men love for their egos to be stroked and pampered. They love it when a woman says nice things about them - compliments them - and tells them how wonderful they are. (As a man, I fear that this comes from the arrogant prideful thought within me that when they do - they are so right - because . . . well . . . because I just so incredibly awesome!) Oh, here is the danger, men! We want the ego strokes because of our pride. When a man has been married for a while - too often these ego-strokes begin to fade in the marriage due to men being doofusses and due to the natural progression of sin. (Just a note to wives . . . ladies, you cannot ever grasp how important it is for your husband to know you appreciate him - and that you still consider him your hero - and a warning as well is needed here. If you don't do this - or think its just dumb to say things like this cause you've been married 5, 10, 20, 30 years. I can promise you that at some point, some other woman may begin complimenting and flattering your husband. He is still responsible to be godly, be pure, and be faithful. But that task becomes all the more difficult - when he receives no encouragement at home - no ego-strokes - no compliments. This makes it harder to resist when someone finally appreciates him. This is not meant to justify unfaithfulness - it just hopefully helps you see that your God-given task of being his helpmate (which includes encouragement and seeing him as your hero) will make it so much easier for him to see the smooth, flattery of the adulteress for what it is . . . a trap!) The adulteress uses flattery to trap a man. She uses compliments and smooth statements as bait for another woman's husband. The word for flattery means words that are smooth and slippery. What a picture of the deception and the lies that are at work here. She worships herself and her own desires - and she is working hard through her slippery, smooth comments to get this poor sap to join her in her worship. He can worship himself and enter into her worship of herself through an illicit relationship. She catches her prey by luring him in through the baited compliments she places into her trap. Wisdom and understanding are essential to delivering us from such things. God's viewpoint is simple men. Are you married? Do you presently have a wife? Then this is totally and completely out of bounds! If this is absolutely outside of God's will for you - then who could be behind such counsel and such temptation? We need to see these compliments for what they are. They are bait on a hook! If you nibble at the bait - a hook is going to tear through the flesh of your lip - possibly rip open your jaw - and no matter how hard you fight, you're going to be reeled in and mounted as a trophy on Satan's wall! My how that description just changed how we view the flattery and slippery speech of the adulteress! We went from being enamored with her beauty and the promise of ecstasy - to feeling sick at our stomachs at the thought of a hook tearing through our skin and the pain that it would yield. Good!! That is what wisdom and understanding are supposed to do. They are supposed to take the silly trappings off of the devil's lies - off of our flesh and its deceptive thoughts - and show us the horror of what truly lies ahead. This is why wisdom is to be our sister - and understanding our kinsman redeemer. They can take the most sensual, inviting situation and show it for what it is. It is going to be horrible! It is going to be bondage! It is going to be regretted in the end! May God give us grace to see these things - to wake up out of the stupor of our fleshly sleep - and see the truth before it is too late. Do this then, my son, and deliver yourself; Since you have come into the hand of your neighbor, Go, humble yourself, and importune your neighbor. Give no sleep to your eyes, Nor slumber to your eyelids; Deliver yourself like a gazelle from the hunter's hand And like a bird from the hand of the fowler. Proverbs 6:3-5
Evidently the Bible's view of being surety for someone else is pretty serious stuff. When you read these three verses, you get the idea that surety is something horrific that we need to avoid at all costs. If we have done it - the counsel here is to do whatever we need to do to get out of that situation. Why is this so serious an issue to God? First of all surety means that you have guaranteed the debt of another person. When you do this, you are doin it at the peril of your own possessions. Most often a person does not seek surety unless they are not able to get normal credit. The only way they can get money is for someone else to guarantee that it will be repaid. Therefore you have a difficult situation that you face. First of all the person you have just guaranteed is not that solvent. They may NOT be able to repay their debt. If that is the case, then the bank, company, or individual who gave the loan has the ability to come after you. You have guaranteed that someone else will be responsible - and have done so at the risk of your good name - not to mention your goods themselves. No repayment - they come after your stuff - and have every right to it. The second problem with surety is that it does not encourage responsiblity in the one who got the loan in the first place. It's not as if he or his reputation is really on the line. If he goes bankrupt its no big deal. There is a person behind him who has deeper pockets who will take care of things. Thus, the person doesn't even have all that much reason to be responsible and show good character in the process. Thus you are placing your good name and your "responsibility" in the hands of someone else. This is not a wise thing to do. The Bible's counsel is to not be willing to be surety for anyone! What is the counsel here for when you find yourself having made the unwise decision to be surety for someone else? When you find that you've made the bad decision to be surety for someone else - the Bible tells you to deliver yourself from that situation. This word is a strong one - because it speaks of being delivered from the power of someone else. It has the idea of someone having much power over you - and is used with things like being in the power of an enemy - or even death. Surety places us in the power of someone else. They now have power over our reputation and our good name. God's counsel is to get out of that situation as soon as you can! Solomon tells us that we've come into the hand of our neighbor in this situation. Hand here means the palm of their hand. It has the picture of being at the mercy of someone else - being in their absolute power. Again the picture given to us is of being at the mercy of another. The result of this precarious situation is that you need to do two things. First, go humble yourself before your neighbor. You've made a serious mistake, and you need to go in humility to admit your mistake. This may hurt - but you really don't want someone else responsible for your financial reputation and your financial well-being. This is serious enough that you also need to importune your neighbor to deal with this. Importune has the idea of going to them and doing whatever needs to be done to get out of this situation. Let them know that you cannot remain in this situation. We honestly need to see this as God does. Many people see no harm in being surety - and yet God tells us that this is a very unwise situaiton. It is one thing to invest - another to give a loan that needs to be repaid - even another to just give someone money they need. But here we are placing our very reputation in someone else's hands. We have guaranteed something we cannot guarantee. We've said that they will be faithful to pay a debt - and have said that we will be good for the debt if they are not. This is wildly unwise - and something God is very much against. Here is another picture of how much God wants us to steer clear of financial situations like this. He tells us that not even sleep before we get ourselves out of this financial mess. Give no sleep to your eyes or slumber to your eyelids. Don't even go to sleep until you've gotten yourself out of this situation. We are being told that this is a very dangerous, foolish thing we've done - and that until we've undone it - don't even sleep.When you find that you've made the bad decision to be surety for someone else - the Bible tells you to deliver yourself from that situation. This word is a strong one - because it speaks of being delivered from the power of someone else. It has the idea of someone having much power over you - and is used with things like being in the power of an enemy - or even death. Surety places us in the power of someone else. They now have power over our reputation and our good name. God's counsel is to get out of that situation as soon as you can! Solomon tells us that we've come into the hand of our neighbor in this situation. Hand here means the palm of their hand. It has the picture of being at the mercy of someone else - being in their absolute power. Again the picture given to us is of being at the mercy of another. The result of this precarious situation is that you need to do two things. First, go humble yourself before your neighbor. You've made a serious mistake, and you need to go in humility to admit your mistake. This may hurt - but you really don't want someone else responsible for your financial reputation and your financial well-being. This is serious enough that you also need to importune your neighbor to deal with this. Importune has the idea of going to them and doing whatever needs to be done to get out of this situation. Let them know that you cannot remain in this situation. We honestly need to see this as God does. Many people see no harm in being surety - and yet God tells us that this is a very unwise situaiton. It is one thing to invest - another to give a loan that needs to be repaid - even another to just give someone money they need. But here we are placing our very reputation in someone else's hands. We have guaranteed something we cannot guarantee. We've said that they will be faithful to pay a debt - and have said that we will be good for the debt if they are not. This is wildly unwise - and something God is very much against. Here is another picture of how much God wants us to steer clear of financial situations like this. He tells us that not even sleep before we get ourselves out of this financial mess. Give no sleep to your eyes or slumber to your eyelids. Don't even go to sleep until you've gotten yourself out of this situation. We are being told that this is a very dangerous, foolish thing we've done - and that until we've undone it - don't even sleep. Lastly, we read of two final metaphors that help us to see how serious this situation is. We should view it like a gazelle views being in the hunter's hand. A gazelle see this as extremely dangerous - possibly fatal to be in the hand of the hunter. The hunter has no regard for the safety or the well being of the gazelle. The animal is there for the use of the hunter - and only for that purpose. Thus the hunter has no interest in the ultimate best interests of the gazelle. Thus the one in surety has someone that could honestly care less about the ultimate best interests of the one who has given their word for his debt. Thus the one who foolishly stepped into this situation needs to get out as quickly as possible. The last picture is of a bird who is in the hand of the fowler. Once again the bird is in the hand of one who wants to kill him. The fowler is interested in a meal - and the meal is the bird himself. To be in these hands is to be in hands that are very dangerous. Thus the bird should want to get our of this situation very very quickly. To do otherwise is to risk life and limb (or wing in this case). Surety is something the Word of God teaches is financial suicide. This may not register with our society all that well since we are often in the habit of making pretty foolish decisions regularly. Yet, if we want God's fullest blessing on our finances, we would be wise to heed this warning and avoid guaranteeing another's debt like we would avoid the bubonic plague. She does not ponder the path of life; Her ways are unstable, she does not know it. Proverbs 5:6
Here is another in a list of warnings given to the man who would think of committing adultery. It is part of the description of the adulteress. Before I go into this particular verse I do want to make a comment or two for the ladies. This passage does describe for us the woman who either leaves her husband to have sex with another man - or a single woman who enters into relationships with married men and thus is committing adultery with him. I do not in any way want you ladies to think that any man is receiving a pass here. This passage is dealing with this issue from the perspective of a warning to sons. Fascinating that this warning comes most likely from David to Solomon - two guys who learned much from the wrong side of this issue. David's warnings to his son Solomon were for the most part unheeded in the end - and Solomon's sin was the undoing of Israel. So you can see that the cost of mistakes in this area are great. Fortunately for us - the grace of God and His forgiveness are greater. Nevertheless - a whole host of problems come when a young man is foolish enough to be ensnared by the adulteress. Oh, and ladies . . . the greatest snare for him is not the woman herself - but his own lusts that wage war in his soul. But, with all this said, it is a wise father who speaks to his son about these issues - even if it is from hard lessons learned. The adulteress, like anyone who is willingly cooperating with sin, is not watching for eternal things. The passage states in the Hebrew that she is not watching the path of life. The actual Hebrew word here is "palas" and it means to ponder or to calculate the weight of something. One of the ways it is used is to weigh out a path and see what it will bring to us in the end. The adulteress is not thinking about eternity - about the judgment of God at the end of life when according to the Bible, all men and women will have to give an account of their choices and actions. The word "ponder" here does not mean just a casual thought - but to stop and think seriously about something. She is not thinking about where her actions are taking her. This is kind of a "duh" statement considering we just read a verse earlier that her feet are swiftly moving towards death and her very steps (indicating a direction taken) and taking hold of the place of the dead. Think about this for a moment. Does anyone who is entering into sexual immorality seriously stop and think about the diseases they are opening up to in their lives? Does anyone entering into adultery seriously stop and consider the havoc coming in their marriage - in their family - in their children's lives? There is not a lot of pondering going on here. Honestly, what IS going on is actions based on lust and desire. Sexual immorality usually involves shutting the "ponderer" down and living by the impulses of our flesh instead. The adulteress also is unstable. The word for unstable here means to stagger and walk crooked. It has the idea of someone who is swaying in and out of a path. Rather than ponder and consider the path of life - she is wandering and staggering off the road. Jeremiah 14:10 uses this same imagery to indicate that there are those who love their wandering. God told Jeremiah, "Thus says the LORD to this people, 'Even so they have loved to wander; they have not kept their feet in check. Therefore the LORD does not accept them; now He will remember their iniquity and call their sins to account."' This is the same sentiment we sing about in the hymn, "Come Thou Fount" when we say, "prone to wander, Lord I feel it; prone to leave the Lord I love." This speaks of a "willful" wandering. The adulteress though, is wandering not toward sin with the assurance of God's gracious discipline. She is willfully wandering toward a yawning abyss without seeing its gaping jaws. Her ways are unstable - wandering - staggering toward destruction - but she does not know it. So althought she promises so much through her offer of pleasure, albeit illicit. She does not know even herself where it is eventually leading. Pretty scary description here isn't it? That's the point that David is trying to drive home to young Solomon his son. Remember, David wound up killing Uriah as well as several other soldiers by proxy - had his daughter raped by one of her half brothers - had that son killed by another son (who used his proxy methods to accomplish the deed) - had 10 of his concubines raped in public by his son on a rooftop in front of the entire nation - and had that son die in an effort to usurp the kingdom along with all the soldiers who fell in that battle as well. Kinda cost David far more than he thought to have that one night of hidden passion? Maybe David was wanting Solomon to ponder more than he did - to avoid a similar fate? Maybe whether from success or failure in our moral lives we should do the same with our sons and daughters as well? Acquire wisdom! Acquire understanding! Do not forget nor turn away from the words of my mouth. Proverbs 4:5
How do you become wise? There is a question for the ages, yet the answer as you will see is much easier than you would think. Becoming wise involves first wanting to be wise. We've seen from other Proverbs that the first step in becoming wise is to realize that you are not wise. That may at first sound ridiculously simple - but you would be surprised how many people miss it. Once you realize that you are not wise, the next step is told to us here. You begin to do all that you can to acquire wisdom and understanding. Of course I know the next question will be, "How do you do that?" That is what we will examine today as we look at this Proverb. If you want to acquire wisdom, you hang out with wise people. This is important mainly because it should move you toward God. Since He is the author of all wisdom - you would want to spend a lot of time reading what He has to say and listening to what He desires to communicate to you. This also means you want to cultivate the habit of being very sensitive to what the Holy Spirit is saying to you in the Word each day. One of the quickest ways to move from foolishness to wisdom is to listen to and to follow Him. This means working on the discipline of getting into God's Word every day. It means getting into it with a heart that listens to God. You are not just "doing your Bible reading," but you are seeking God's face - desiring His counsel - and longing to communicate with Him in a way that you have the wisdom you need for life itself. Some other things that would be ways to acquire wisdom would be to read often in the book of Proverbs. This is the book of wisdom itself in the Scriptures, so it is only right to spend time in this particular book. Learn to do a "daily proverb." This is the practice of reading the chapter of Proverbs that coincides with the day of the month. Since there are 31 chatpers in Proverbs you will never lack a chapter for the day of the month - and over time you will watch your mind be filled with God's wisdom. Another thing to do is to learn "the moral of the story" in the history of the Bible. We can learn a great deal from both the wise and foolish behavior of people in the Bible. You can add to this reading books written by wise men, receiving godly counsel from older, wiser men and women, and also listening and going to your own parents for counsel. These are all ways you can acquire wisdom. By the way, the word wisdom itself simply means, "learning to see things from God's perspective." That is what you are seeking as you do all these things. The verse here also says that we are to acquire "understanding." We are not just gathering wise sayings and teachings. We are wanting to be able to comprehend and discern what do to and what to say in life. This word means to have that discernment that knows how to choose the right thing and reject the wrong thing. It has a strong moral and religious sense to it. We want to gain and acquire an ability to see two things that differ (even if they only differ slightly) and know how to choose the right one and embrace it wholly. This involves not just learning and acquiring wise sayings and information - it involves using it to see our situation as God sees it. It is applying the wisdom we've learned to each and every situation that we face. This comes with time and with continued wise counsel. It comes as we do post mortem work on our previous decisions - and on the decisions of others. This is not done for the sake of condemnation - but to learn from what we've done wrong and what we've done right. It involves humility as we pick a personal disaster apart and examine just what made us make such a foolish decision. As we do this - we will better know what do to in the future - and how to recognize similar situations and make much wiser decisions when we face those sitiuations in the future. The last thing we need to do also seems so simple - but actually it is very profound. We need to remember what we've learned. The father tells his son, "Do not forget, nor turn away from the words of my mouth." As we hear the earthly father parrot these words, we should realize that these are the same words that God uses over and over again throughout the Law, the Prophets, the wisdom writings, the Psalms, and the New Testament. I think in some way all of us are afflicted with a little spiritual alzheimers. We forget what God taught us. One of the funniest, yet saddest pictures of this is the disciples freaking out in a boat that is being tossed and turned by the waves. In order to move around in the boat they had to step over the 12 baskets of food Jesus just had them gather the day before. They had to stumble over them to get to Jesus to tell Him to wake up because they were all about to perish! Jesus then got up - rebuked the wind and waves - and pretty much blew their minds at the power God gave Him. But where would they have learned this? Oh, from the feeding of the 25,000 to 30,000 people from just yesterday!! But then again - we have a bad tendency to forget what we've been taught. God calls us to remember! Remember the lessons God taught you. Don't forget the valuable information He shared with you. Don't drop the ball that He just gave you! This is not easy folks. If it was He wouldn't say it so often - and we wouldn't blow it so often. We are prone to pride and to self-sufficiency. That is often at the root of why we forget. We don't exactly embrace the whole idea of not being able to do things ourselves. We don't exactly enjoy going to God for counsel on decisions. We don't exactly warm up to the fact that we need to surrender our wills to God daily - even hourly and if it were a word, "minutely." This deals with the last bit of wisdom the father shares with his son. The last thing that keeps us from acquiring wisdom and understanding is rebellion and disobedience. The father says to his son that he is not to "turn away" from the words that he speaks. Our last problem with acquiring wisdom is that we turn away from it willingly. WE ARE REBELLIOUS! There are times when we choose to be wise in our own eyes - and chart of course for disaster in the process. This requires that we die to self daily. It requires that we recognize that though we are converted - we are not fully sanctified. We need to see the subtle workings of our flesh, the world system, and Satan in our lives. Follow these three and you will not walk in wisdom. You will not acquire it - nor keep it. Acquiring wisdom and understanding is imperative for each of us. It involves humbling ourselves and listening to God - and those through whom He would speak to us. It involves not just listening, but learning and discerning what is said and how it applies to where we are going and what we are doing and saying. It is a life long process that allows us to grow in wisdom only in so much as we continue to view our world through the eyes of God. It will only be then that we will have acquired wisdom - acquired understanding -and have learned how to glorify God in the things we say and do. It will be healing to your body And refreshment to your bones. Proverbs 3:8
It is actually healthier to your general health and to your bones to walk in wisdom and in the fear of God. God says that doing these things leads us to turning away from evil - and steering clear of evil is something we should aspire to do each and every day of our lives. This verse derives its meaning from verse 7 - which speaks of the things that will make for healing in our bodies and refreshment to our bones. The activities that encourage this boon to our health are not being wise in our own eyes, fearing God, and turning away from evil. But how can God's Word make such outrageous statements! This is not a medical journal! These are the comments I would expect from those who prefer to trust themselves and the present world system than trust the Word of God. Therefore, I'll take a few moments to comment on why walking in wisdom and the fear of God is so healthy. Peace . . . in a word the benefits of walking in wisdom and the fear of God is that we walk in peace. Study after study has been done in the medical world that trumpets the health benefits of being at peace. The peace that God gives us is far more valuable than the temporary peace achieved by some in this present world. God's peace is valuable both now - and for all eternity. If we choose not to be wise in our own eyes, we will know a peace that Scripture says passes all understanding. It is also a peace that will garrison both our heart and mind in Christ Jesus. The world's peace lasts as long as we have the world's goods - or the good fortune to not have troubles and trials. That poses and very difficult problem - because this world is filled with troubles and trials. God's peace is strong no matter what our current circumstances - because He tells us that all things are working together for our good - when we live for the transformation that He Himself works in us to make us more like Jesus Christ His Son. Sin, on the other hand, is devastating to our mental and physical well-being. David spoke of the year he was in his sin with Bathsheba as a year when he groaned under the weight of his guilt and shame. He spoke of how his bones were drying up - and his health failed due to the discipline that was upon him from the Lord. We learn from God's Law in the Old Testament an entire system of how to maintain good hygiene and good eating habits. It might fascinate you to know that studies done on the Old Testament Law regarding how one ate - how one kept themselves from disease - and how one was to act in sexual matters - is the healthiest way to live. God's wisdom always yields marvelous results when we choose to walk in it rather than walk in the stubbornness of our own hearts. Truly, we will enjoy healing in our bodies and refreshment in our bones when we do so. Guarding the paths of justice, And He preserves the way of His godly ones. Proverbs 2:8
Why is it so disheartening to see a judge or a police officer break the law and be guilty of criminal activity? The reason is that we look to these individuals to be ones who guard justice in our society. When they are guilty of injustice - it shakes our confidence in the system. It also leaves us without a guardian over issues of justice and righteousness. Here we are told something in Proverbs that should bless us greatly. The ultimate guardian of justice is not a man. The ultimate guardian of justice is God Himself. Don't worry too much about the paths or the way of justice - at least to the point of thinking it won't exist any longer. Such thoughts are false. God Himself is the One who guards the paths of justice. He watches over them and will one day bring every injustice to light - and each will receive the due penalty of their error. That should both comfort and terrify us. It should comfort us to know that this world is not spinning out of control. God has been watching over it - and will continue to do so until the end of the age. No one is going to "get away" with anything in the end. God will call all men to stand before Him and give account for the deeds which they have done in their bodies. Each will stand before the judgment seat of Christ. Justice will be fine and will be swift in that day and hour. But what about that nefarious enemy of justice - nepotism? We've all watched as a relative or close friend is rescued from justice without any of the consequences of it being experienced. The only ones punished in that scenario are those who had the unfortunate providence of working with the relative or close friend. In the end justice is skewered and cooked on a spit - and all those watching have their faith in a truly just judge or official shaken. There is where we can be assured that God is the true guardian of justice. If there ever was a time when He would have decided to lapse into nepotism, it would have been with His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. When He became sin - the entire universe watched with their breath held at what the Father would do. True to His nature and His holiness - and the fact that He is the guardian of justice - God brought justice to bear on His Son, when He became sin for us. Thus, we see that God was just - but because of His actions and the sacrifice of His Son - He was also the justifier of those who believe in Jesus. God also is known as the One who preserves the way of His godly ones. This literally means He is watching, guarding, and protecting the course of their lives. The descriptive language used here with the words "way" and "paths" has the idea of where we are going. It also gives us the picture of a map of our lives laid out before us. That map is known by the Lord - and He is watching over it. When we choose to be one of His godly ones - and concern ourselves with justice as well - He watches over us. That is not a promise we will never have problems - but it is a promise that nothing will happen to us that does not first come through God's purposes and plans for our lives. So don't fret over justice. God, who watches over the paths of justice will deal with all matters on that great and glorious day when all men will have to stand and give an account for their lives and their choices. Know also that as you live a godly life - that He is watching over you as well. Your confidence in such things can be overwhelming - and hopefully your peace will be sufficient in every situation. |
Proverb a DayEach day, we'll take a look at a verse from the chapter of Proverbs for the day. Our hope is to gain wisdom each day - and from that wisdom - to have understanding to make godly decisions in the throes of everyday life. Thank you for visiting our website! Everything on this site is offered for free. If, however, you would like to make a donation to help pay for its continued presence on the internet, you can do that by clicking here. The only thing we ask is that you give first to the local church you attend. Thank you!
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