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Proverbs 29:27 An unjust man is abominable to the righteous, And he who is upright in the way is abominable to the wicked.
The godly and the ungodly take very divergent paths. This is fairly elementary to anyone to see. But what we often do not see is that not only are these paths different - they are also disgusting to each other. The word that is used in today's proverb to describe the view that they have of each other is "abominable." The word used here is the Hebrew word "ebah" which means anything that is offensive or what is an abomination to someone else. In Scripture God uses this word to describe those who depart from His Law. Often the word is used for more grievous sins - like idolatry, child sacrifice, and homosexual behavior. What God is saying to us is that there is a radical and serious difference between those who desire to live godly and those who do not. Let's look at little further into this as we seek to understand God's wisdom for us today. The "unjust" man ("awel" in the Hebrew) is one who deviates from God's way. This kind of behavior and choice is usually set in contrast to words like righteous, upright, and justice. There is a basic injustice in the one who deviates from God's way - and God, being just, will have to bring judgment and punishment to the one who does so. This is why the unjust man is abominable to the righteous. The godly man sees that the unjust man is unjust first and foremost to God Himself - then from that infinite injustice flows all other lesser injustices to others. Since we know that the righteous man is not so because of his own works but due to God's grace, the righteous man knows the cost of this ungodly behavior. That cost is God's Son, crucified on the cross (to the Old Testament saint it was the promise of this in the sacrifices of the Law). To embrace such behavior is to treat God's gift - the sacrifice made to forgive us and remove us from under God's wrath - as worthless and empty. This is an abomination to the righteous man. The same is true of the ungodly man toward the upright. What the ungodly see is a man who is "upright in the way." This phrase communicates the path of the godly man. What the ungodly sees is a guy who is seeking to walk according to a set of rules that are different than his. He is seeking to be upright - which means to do what is good and what is right. That alone is offensive to the ungodly man. His worldview involves him deciding what is right and good. It even involves him changing his views to match his lifestyle if he desires. To have what he considers an arbitrary set of morals set by God - which is then viewed as ultimate truth is untenable to him. That would mean his own views of right and wrong are in error if they are different than those God has given. His value system cannot tolerate this - because his value system is that of the book of Judges. He does whatever is "right in his own eyes." He is a law unto himself. He does not judge anyone else (unless they judge him or get in the way of him doing what he wants to do) and he expects the same from everyone else (of course always giving way to what he wants if there is any contradiction). Thus the "way" or lifestyle of this guy who is so arrogant as to call his way "right" is an abomination to him. It offends him to the core of his being! Paul told young Timothy the following in his second letter to him, "Now you followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, perseverance, persecutions, and sufferings, such as happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium and at Lystra; what persecutions I endured, and out of them all the Lord rescued me! Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted." (2 Timothy 3:11-13) Often we focus only on the last of these three verses - that all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. This was only a conclusion for what Paul had already said in verses 11-12. In those verses he spoke of his teaching, conduct, purpose, and faith. Paul was persecuted because he chose to live in "the upright way." That way consisted of two things - both of which are vital to understanding Christianity. First is the 'way of salvation.' The upright way will never be lived out by effort and striving. Righteousness and upright living is attained by grace, not by our works. God MAKES us upright by an act of His mercy and grace. That comes through the gospel - and only through the gospel. The world finds this incredibly offensive and very narrow minded. But that is the truth. That is how God has addressed sin - and that is, according to Jesus Himself, the only way, truth, and life - the only way to the Father. The second truth of the upright way is that we live and walk it out in a paradox - we work as God works within us. We are called to obedience - and we seek God's power by which we can then walk in that obedience. We are to make choices - strong and bold choices - even as it is God who works in us to will and to do according to His good pleasure. Living a godly life involves a glorious tension in our lives. We are to do it - and He is to do it within us. We cannot think we do it on our own - and we cannot think that He will do it for us without our cooperation. The wicked find this whole scenario ridiculous and an abomination. To them it is ridiculous because there is no God - or if there is, their god agrees with them. They have a god of their own making - who looks and acts just like they do. Any other God is unacceptable. The word "wicked" here is telling. The word is "rasa" and it means to be guilty - a wrong-doer, criminal, or a transgressor. It means someone who is wrong! The reason the wicked hate the upright, and find their way abominable is because as they watch them - they know they are wrong. They do not want anyone telling them they are wrong. Their reaction to this is to fume within and rage about how judgmental the Christian is - even if the Christian is not saying anything to them. Their very lifestyle is a rebuke to them. If the Christian speaks out - then they explode - because their guilt rages within them. There will always be a radical distinction between the righteous and the wicked. There will also be a hostility to the way each other chooses to live. That is the wisdom that God is seeking to impart to us through today's proverb. Therefore the constant effort among Christians to make the gospel inoffensive is silliness. We can be gracious and kind in how we communicate the gospel - but to make it inoffensive to the wicked is impossible. There will always be the offense of the cross of Christ. There will always be the offense of God asserting that He is God and He is absolutely right on moral matters (and all others he touches upon as well). Thus the constant effort to make Christianity inoffensive in its essence is a fool's pursuit. It would be wise for us to abandon it and return to living it simply before the lost, loving them from the heart, and doing all that we can to share the message of the gospel with them. We do so not because we think we are superior. Perish that thought. We do it because we've received grace and desire for them to receive it as well. We want them to be saved - made righteous by grace - and abandon their abominable way to embrace a life lived by the grace of God unto the glory of God.
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Proverbs 29:26 Many seek the ruler's favor, but justice for man comes from the Lord.
Where do you get justice in our world? Today's proverb weighs in on this issue in a way that reminds us that we need to keep an eternal perspective on all things. This world may seek what they call justice from the officials who rule over it, but true justice for mankind comes from God. Many do seek the ruler's favor - and consider that justice. The problem comes when you realize that rulers are not always righteous. There are rulers and officials who receive bribes and favors to turn justice toward the one who gave them. Another problem arises when you read the statement that "many" seek the ruler's favor. That means if your bribe is not high enough, you lose. If someone else comes along and offers something more or something better, justice goes to the highest bidder. Such was the case with Haman, Mordecai, and Esther. Haman, angry with Mordecai because he would not bow down to him, paid a ridiculous amount of money to the king to have "his justice" enforced. That justice did not involve punishment on Mordecai - but on the entire nation of Israel. He did not want Mordecai to be punished alone - he wanted the extermination of his entire race. The price was right - and a decree was made to have the Jews destroyed kingdom-wide. Thus goes justice when you seek the ruler's favor. The real problem for Haman though, was the justice he bought was not final. When Esther gave two banquets for the king, told him he was a Jew, and on top of all this the king later learned that Mordecai had saved his life - the price for this justice went much higher. In the end, justice from the king meant Haman's hanging, the destruction of his entire family, and the destruction of Israel's enemies in the city and throughout the kingdom. God warns those He puts in authority repeatedly against taking bribes perverting justice for a price. Although power can corrupt - and absolute power can corrupt absolutely - God alone is the One Who cannot be corrupted. Therefore wisdom tells us that, "justice for man comes from the Lord." God's justice is based on His perfect righteousness and justice. He does not have such things - He IS such things. God does not base justice on a set of laws given by others - He is the Lawgiver, He is the Source of righteousness, and He is the Judge. His throne is founded on justice and righteousness. When He speaks, He speaks with absolute authority - and - with absolute, perfect just and right decisions. When He speaks and judges - His statements are final - and always beyond question. Here is what He said about Himself when revealing Himself to Moses. "The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generation." (Exodus 34:6-8) God is just - but our salvation is not His justice, but His mercy and grace. Justice for man truly does come from The Lord. The gospel bears this out. God is just and the Justifier of the one who believes in Jesus Christ. He carried out His perfect, absolute justice when Jesus Christ was crucified on the cross. If there ever were a time when God might have set aside justice and righteousness - it would have been for His Son. But God's justice is perfect - and Christ had to die for sins for man to be forgiven and made righteous in God's sight. Thus the fullness of God's justice and wrath fell on His Son that day. But . . . as a result, justice for man comes from the Lord. We have a choice - to face the full brunt of God's wrath for our sins ourselves - or to turn to Jesus Christ, believe on Him, and receive grace and mercy. The Just God - had His justice satisfied by the death of His Son for sin. Now He will justify (declare righteous) anyone who turns to His Son in repentance and faith. No man can offer such a thing. Therefore the wise man is the one who seeks absolute justice, not from fickle men who can change justice as often as they change socks, but from God. He will not only give just decisions here on earth between men - but will give the ultimate justice to us in heaven - not based on us paying the price of our sins - but based on the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Proverbs 29:16 When the wicked increase, transgression increases; but the righteous will see their fall.
There is a principle at work here - and one that has been seen again and again in the world. The more the wicked increase in a society, the more that the society will turn toward wickedness. This is not a recent phenomenon - it has been happening ever since the fall of man. In fact, one of the most powerful examples of it was not long after man fell into sin. We read in Genesis chapter 6 of this kind of situation. "Now it came about, when men began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose." The progression here is fascinating to see. First the wicked began to multiply. You might wonder why I think the wicked multiplied - and not the godly. The reason for this is because man is sinful - and will always orient himself toward his sin and ungodliness unless God intervenes by His grace to change things. The next step was that the wicked began to modify - and they modified God's intention for marriage. They married at will - based on something other than God's plan. This led to the wicked multiplying even more. The god-desired role of the family was perverted and rather than pass on godliness - men began to pass on and even grow in his wickedness. We read in verse 5 of that same chapter of Genesis, "Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." Two more things began to happen. The wicked began to magnify their wickedness. God saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth. The original intent for creation was to magnify the Creator, God. Now it was filled with men who magnified the creation, man. The second thing that happened was the Wicked began to meditate on their wickedness. Every intent of the thoughts of their heart became evil continually. God's desire was for men to meditate on Him and His Word - instead; they meditated on their godless desires - which led to even worse conditions. The wicked then turned to mayhem and murder in their wickedness. God said the following to Noah about this in verse 13 of chapter 6 of Genesis. “The end of all flesh has come before Me; for the earth is filled with violence because of them; and behold, I am about to destroy them with the earth." James warns us in chapter 4 of his letter that the cause of our fighting is our lusts that wage war within us. This leads us to even kill so that we can fulfill our lusts that rage for more within us. The sad ending of all this is that the choices of the wicked led to the condemnation of the wicked. God destroyed that generation. As we turn our attention back to our proverb - we see just what Solomon is communicating to his sons - and to all who would read these words. When the wicked increase, transgression among men increases as well. But in the end the righteous will see their fall. Wickedness cannot reign long in a land - it consumes it to a point of catastrophe. It did so in Noah's day - and we read that as it was in the days of Noah, so also it shall be in the days of the coming of the Son of Man. The ungodly will always be ungodly - and the wicked will seek to multiply their wickedness. But what is there for us to learn from this - just don't be wicked? No, there is a message for us today - one that will magnify the grace of God in the gospel. How can we keep the wicked from increasing? Every time a child is born - another ungodly heart enters the human race. We are fallen - and we multiply into more fallen men and women over time. The answer lies in the gospel of Jesus Christ. This is the ONLY way that we can stem the tide of the wicked multiplying on the earth. We must multiply! We must be about sharing Jesus Christ with all who are around us. We must take the one thing that can take a wicked heart and transform it into a godly one. That one thing is the gospel of Jesus Christ! Jesus sent us into the world to make disciples of all the nations. As the early church took that mandate seriously they multiplied disciples - leading them to Christ - baptizing them as they identified with Christ - teaching them to obey all Jesus commands - and then doing it in each and every generation until the end of the age. This, and only this, can stand against the wicked and their wickedness multiplying in a society! May God give us grace to accept no substitutes in this matter - no political or social or military option, which in the end will only fail. May we see that the glorious mandate to minister the gospel - and make disciples IS God's only answer for our world! He who walks blamelessly will be delivered, but he who is crooked will fall all at once. Proverbs 28:18
There are some who try to walk simultaneously on two divergent paths. They will find that their hypocrisy and duplicity will betray them in the end. Like a man standing on both sides of a draw bridge that is opening, they will find that sooner or later they will either have to pick a side - or face falling into the water all at once. That is what our proverb is about today. The crooked man is one who is trying to live two ways at one time. The Hebrew word for crooked means to walk twisted in two ways. The idea behind the word is that the two paths are opposite of each other. There is no way that this man can continue in this indefinitely. The paths themselves are mutually exclusive and will end badly. That end is given to us as a warning. He will "fall all at once." This is end for those who try to walk in hypocrisy - they will not slip up a litle - they will fall all at once. The best example of this is in the New Testament. The person who did it - Judas Iscariot. Judas tried to live in two completely different worlds. We learn that he followed Jesus - and was even one who saw the power of God in Christ up close and personal. Yet he also wanted to be in power - and he loved money. He would steal from their money box as the treasurer - and also was angry when the woman with the valuable vial of oil poured it on Jesus rather than sold it for a small fortune. He wanted money - evident by the fact that in the end he sold Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. But that money would not assuage his guilty conscience. Judas was an example of a man who fell "all at once." Unable to handle the guilt for betraying Jesus to crucifixion, he eventually went out and hung himself. He truly fell quickly and permanently. All hypocrites can know that this end looms before them. They can try to escape all they want - but the fact is either by an exposure here and now or by the judgment in the end - they are going to fall - and fall badly. The one who walks "blamelessly" is the one who will be delivered. This is an encouragement for all men to live a godly life. They reject the lies and deception of those who play games with their relationship with God. By this - and by the grace of God they are delivered from the destruction of sin itself. But this proverb goes even deeper - and presents to us the gospel. Those of us who desire to live for The Lord give it our best shot - but in the end we will not be "blameless" before The Lord. We unfortunately will sin - and that takes us out of the category of the blameless. But there is One who lived His entire time on the earth in a blameless state - never breaking God's Law - never sinning once. That One is Jesus Christ - and He is the One who was delivered first - to death - and then in the resurrection - from death. His deliverance to death was for our sakes - so that He could pay the price for our sin and rebellion required by God's holiness and justice. His deliverance from death in the resurrection reveals to us that God accepted the payment of His blood for our sins. Now, here is the tremendous news of the gospel. Through His blamelessness and His death, burial, and resurrection we can now be granted the same deliverance from the wrath of God against sin. The wise man knows that any attempt he makes on his own to get to God will be dogged by his own sinful duplicity. I cannot tell you how often I tried to clean myself up from my sin and bad character and choices - only to find that I could never finish the job I started. What was the most disappointing was the fact that often I simply chose sin and rebellion to God. I did so just because it felt good - or because my flesh wanted something, and I didn't want to "just say no." The fact is I couldn't "just say no." And a wise man realizes he can't either. We all wind up hypocrites who try it both ways only to find we fall all at once when our sinful selfishness rises up and demands its own way. The comfort to us who are wise enough to see our fallen conditin is that there is One who walked blamelessly before God. His choice was to always do what pleased His Father. Jesus is that One - and He will graciously grant us His deliverance from sin by grace. Thus we are rescued from the twisted way we walk by our very nature. But that rescue is never self-earned. It is received as we receive the grace of God in Jesus Christ proclaimed to us in the gospel. A man who is laden with the guilt of human blood will be a fugitive until death; let no one support him. Proverbs 28:17
This proverb is stated in the context of God's wisdom about leaders and kings. Therefore most likely it refers to those leaders who have gained and maintained their power through the shedding of much human blood. The key to seeing this is the admonition that such a man is not to be "supported." The idea behind this admonition is that one would throw their support behind such a man as their leader, which in their day would mean the king. Ahab was a man who had shed much human blood. His power was maintained through intimidation and violent suppression of anyone who opposed him. He even allowed his wife, Jezebel, to act on his behalf to kill a man simply because he wanted his vegetable garden. When this happened, God sent Elijah to him because God had had enough of Ahab's wickedness and bloodshed. The Lord had Elijah tell both Ahab and Jezebel that they were going to come to violent deaths themselves. This is why we do not want to support violent men. The frightening aspect of God's judgment upon this wicked couple is that not only did they die - but their entire group of advisors were killed as well. Another king who shed much innocent human blood was king Manasseh. His 40 year reign was marked by more bloodshed than anyone before him. Toward the end of his reign God sent a conquering nation against him and had him watch as his army was destroyed and he was taken into captivity. It was in a dungeon that he realized that Jehovah was God. He turned to God in repentance and brokenness - and God in his marvelous mercy forgave and redeemed this wicked king. God's favor came to him as he was returned to Judah as king. It was after this time that he removed all the wicked false gods from the land and returned to seek The Lord with all his heart. When I review this I wonder, how could God support Manasseh after all the blood he spilled? The answer to such a question is found hundreds of years later in what Jesus Christ did by going to the cross. The fact of the matter is that Manasseh did not get away with anything. His sins (and ours as well) fell upon Jesus at the cross. They were paid in full in His death and resurrection. The only reason God supported Manasseh after he repented was because the penalty for his sin fell on God's Son instead. Thus what we have in Manasseh is an example of God's mercy and grace in the extreme. There was another man laden with innocent blood who stands as the New Testament extreme of God's grace in Jesus Christ. His name is Saul - who later was renamed Paul. The apostle whom God used to write the majority of the New Testament - was another who deserved no support because he was laden with the guilt of human blood. Yet God showed him mercy. Why would God show such grace to two of the most notorious men in the Bible laden with human blood. Paul answers that question in 1 Timothy 1:16 when he said, "Yet for this reason I found mercy, so that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in Him for eternal life." God gave grace to these two men - one in the Old Testament and another in the New - as an example of his pefect patience and His incredible mercy and grace. If God can show grace to these men - we should take great comfort knowing that He can save us too! So what do we learn from today's proverb? We learn that a man laden with the blood of men should not be our leader. We should beware when a man wants to rise to power on the blood of others. But we should also remember two, laden with human blood, who teach us of the depths of God's mercy and grace. We should remember that such amazing love is available to all who respond to the gospel of God's grace in Jesus Christ in repentance and faith. There is hope for all - even those laden with the blood of the human race. Hallelujah! He who conceals his transgressions will not prosper, But he who confesses and forsakes them will find compassion. Proverbs 28:13
Here is a proverb that agrees perfectly with what is said in the New Testament. We read in 1 John 1:9 that if we confess our sins God is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. This is the truth of 1 John 1:9 stated in another way. Whereas the 1 John passage states this truth in the positive only, this proverb also warns us of the consequences and danger of not dealing with our sins. The Concealer . . . First we are told about the fate of the one who conceals his transgressions. The word "conceal" means to cover - and has the idea of a cover up. This man is hiding his transgressions (word meaning a sin or rebellion - here against God and His Law and His way). Thus the concealer is not willing to bring his sin to light before God. He therefore hides his rebellion thinking that God does not see him. This same word was used to describe how Joseph's brothers tried to hide their sin when they dipped his coat in goat's blood and brought to Jacob. There was an attempted cover up by Joseph's brothers which eventually came to light. In the same way, we are warned against covering up our sins. They will come to light - and the way this happens in by a loss of the blessing of God. Psalm 32:5 also speaks of his particular sin of hiding and trying to cover up our sin. The Psalmist says, "I acknowledged my sin to You, And my iniquity I did not hide; I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the Lord"; And You forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah." When he was trying to hide his sin from God, the Psalmist had nothing but grief and pain. When he faced his sin before God he received forgiveness. Hiding our sins is not only counterproductive - it is also ridiculously foolish. We serve a God Who is omniscient. He knows all things. When Adam and Eve tried to hide in the garden - it was out of shame and rebellion. The problem for them was that God could still see them - and did even as they committed the first sin. Cain answered God rebelliously when God asked where his brother Abel was. Cain must have thought God did not see - but he did - and Abel's blood was crying out to God from the ground. Moses thought he could kill the Egyptian and hide him in the piles of grain - but God saw - as well as some other Hebrews. HEre is a fact you should always remember. We can never hide our sin from a holy, omniscient God. He truly sees all! He warns his people, "Be sure that your sins will find you out!" Proverbs tells us that this man who is trying to conceal his sin will not prosper. Prosper is the Hebrew word "tsalach" which means to succeed or to be victorious. This word has the idea of breaking out or breaking through - and has a military aspect to it. It spoke of how an army would break through their enemies - which was a sure sign that they were about to win the battle and defeat them. Proverbs says to us is that concealing our sins is way to ensure we will NOT PROSPER. God wants us to confess and forsake our sin. When we choose rebellion and sin against God, we are in serious trouble. We are facing judgment if we do not know Christ - or discipline if we do. What we need is grace - we need God's compassion. That is exactly what Proverbs is wanting to teach us. God wants us to know how to obtain His compassion when we sin? How do we obtain God's compassion and restoration? First, we confess our sins and rebellion. What is fascinating here is the word that God uses to describe confession. The Hebrew word is "yadah." This word means to throw towards - to cast something towards. Here it means to throw off our sin and cast it towards God. It means that we are throwing all our sin and rebellion to God - with a desire for Him to show us forgiveness and compassion. What is wild is that this same word is used for praising God - meaning that we are casting our hands up into the air and casting our praises toward God. God does not want us to try to hold our sins close to us - He wants us to cast those sins away from us and toward Him for His compassion and grace! There is a second thing that puts us in line for God's compassion and forgiveness. Some teach that all we need to do is to confess our sins and everything is fine with God. That is partially true. There is suppose to be a second attitude present. If it is not - I do not believe the Bible says that we will receive forgiveness. That attitude or action is to forsake our sins. This word means to abandon, desert, leave behind, completely neglect and STOP. When we come to God seeking His compassion and forgiveness - we need to come with a heart that says, "Please forgive me God . . . and I also want to forsake and abandon my sin." This is the kind of heart that finds compassion and forgiveness before God. This verse is vital in us knowing the fellowship and grace of God. It is so important for us to grasp the call of God to deal with our sins and rebellion. I honestly believe that just as 1 John 1:9 is such a blessed verse - this verse in Proverbs 28:13 is as well. Oh that we would hear this and heed it as well. It would throw open to us the door to God's grace, mercy, and compassion that we need every day of our lives. Like cold water to a weary soul, So is good news from a distant land. - Proverbs 25:25
One of the joys that God has graced me with is to see my children follow Him in taking the gospel to the nations. As a result of such blessings, I also know the blessing of hearing of good news from a distant land. When my daughter was in Africa we would often plan a time when we would Skype together and talk. It was so refreshing to hear what God was doing in her life - and to know that He was faithful even thousands of miles away. When we would talk to her and hear such things, it was indeed cold water for a weary soul. But there is a message from a far more distant land that should be infinitely more refreshing to our souls. It is the message of the gospel and it should be the best of all news that has come to us from the distant land of heaven itself. God has sent such a message to us - not by UPS or by FED-EX, or even by email or Skype. He sent such a message in the person of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. The message that God sent to us was not a message of pleasantries. It was a message of grace given to us because we were facing wrath for our sins. This message from a far land began as a child within the womb of a peasant girl - yet this was no ordinary child. The Message was God, yet man. The Message grew up as ordinary as any other child would have - and grew into a man. Yet the Message from a far land was no ordinary man. He did works unlike any other man - even raising the dead. Then there was a day when this Message from a far land was rejected and hung upon a cross - cursed of man, but more importantly bearing the curse from God. He died that day, was buried, but three days later rose from the dead. To many this does not sound much like good news from a far land. It sounds like injustice and a horror story. This news, though, was about far more than what happened to the Message. It was about what happened to our sin and our state before God - who sent the Message in the first place. You see, our sin was paid for and forgiven - and our state went from one who is sinful, wicked, and worthy of punishment to one who is perfectly righteous in the sight of a holy God. So, indeed, this is good news from a far land. Want to be refreshed? Then take the time to review the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is the most glorious news ever heard from a distant land! A joyful heart is good medicine, But a broken spirit dries up the bones. Proverbs 17:22
There is a healing effect when we are joyful, cheerful people. We read in today's proverb that a joyful heart is good medicine. The word used for "joyful" here is the Hebrew word "sameah" which means, 'to be glad, happy, or joyful.' The idea behind this word is that someone is choosing to rejoice - to consider the good that God has done, rather than the misery and the opportunity to be sad and depressed. That is why we are to seek to maintain a "joyful" heart. The number of medical studies that reveal to us this principle is nothing short of amazing. Dr. Hans Seyle, former director of the University of Montreal's Institute of Experimental Medicine and Surgery, discovered that when rats are subjected to cold, fatigue, frustration, noise, and other stressful conditions, they develop physical symptoms. Their blood pressure soars, their vital adrenal glands become grossly enlarged, their thymus and lymphatic glands shrink, and they develop peptic ulcers. Research done by the American Medical Association by a Dr Seyle showed that in animals emotional stress causes fats to be drawn from the body, dumped into the blood, and deposited along artery walls. The lethal results are atherosclerosis and coronary-artery disease. According to Dr. Seyle, hatred, frustration, and anxiety are the worst stresses. If you forcefully restrain a normally active rat, deadly frustration results. If you put a mouse and a cat in adjoining cages, the mouse will die of anxiety. This kind of "broken spirit" will, according to the Lord, dry up the bones. This is a horrible condition because our bones are not only our main source of strength and stability, but they are also the place where our blood is produced. Without our bones we will surely die in short order. What is difficult though is that we cannot go up to someone who is dried up in their affections and tell them to be joyful. That does not help them. They know they are without joy - and can sense the drying up of their vitality. An admontion to stop this is like asking the sun to stop shining simply by requesting it. What they need is a supernatural infusion of joy - or even better an infusing of a joy producing principle that will not go away with the seasons or the up and down existance of being alive. Where can we obtain joy? That is the million dollar question. Fortunately, we are instructed in where to find joy in the gospels. When Jesus was born the angels made an amazing statement. "But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people, for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord." (Luke 2:10-11) Joy comes when we are brought into a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. The true source of a dried up spirit is that we are separated fom God by our sin. The weight of our guilt along with the prospect of judgment and separation from God for all eternity will bring great pain and sorrow. Jesus, when He came on the scene publically, read the following passage from Isaiah to the people in Gallilee. "The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, Because the LORD has anointed me To bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to captives And freedom to prisoners; To proclaim the favorable year of the LORD And the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn, To grant those who mourn in Zion, Giving them a garland instead of ashes, The oil of gladness instead of mourning, The mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting." (Isaiah 61:1-3) For those afflicted with sorrow, sighing, sadness, and a broken spirit there is wonderful news. Jesus came to bring great joy. He came to give us the oil of joy poured upon our heads rather than a spirit of fainting. The cause of the broken spirit is our separation from God - and its remedy is turning to God through Jesus Christ. That is how we can have our sorrow turned to laughter and our gloom to everlasting joy. Joy is not just laughter. Some use this verse to promote Christian comediens. But I will say that although I enjoy their humor greatly - they are not the source of bringing men from sorrow to joy. Solomon also wrote Ecclesastes 2 which says, "I said to myself, "Come now, I will test you with pleasure. So enjoy yourself." And behold, it too was futility. I said of laughter, "It is madness," and of pleasure, "What does it accomplish?" (Ecclesiastes 2:1-2) So just getting someone to laugh will not solve the cause of a broken heart. David said it best when in the midst of his confession of sin he said, "Restore to me the joy of Thy salvation!" Joy comes from knowing God - knowing your sins are forgiven - knowing that you will stand in the judgment. When this aspect of our lives is not right - nothing will be. The way to a joyful heart is by knowing God through Jesus Christ, crucified, buried, and resurrected from the dead. It is by coming to God in repentance and faith and turning from a self-centered life to one centered in Him. God offers such a gift freely to us - therefore joy is truly available to men. The problem is that they turn to other things than Him and His gospel to obtain it. 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. The heart of the wise instructs his mouth And adds persuasiveness to his lips. Proverbs 16:23
One of the maladies that I face in my life is that I engage my mouth too often without fully engaging my mind as to what I am going to say. That particular malady results in another and that is that I find my foot often lodged in my mouth shortly after the first malady manifests itself. Needless to say today's proverb was eye-opening to say the least. I learned that what truly needs to be engaged before I speak is my heart - which is to be what instructs my mouth before it engages in saying what "ought" to be said. The heart of a wise man instructs his mouth what to say. Some might say that if this were the case all we would say is, "thump, thump" in a rythmic fashion. (Oops, there I go again!) But the Hebrew concept of the heart is a wondeful one. The heart refers to the immaterial inner self - or what the Holy Spirit would refer to as man's spirit. This is considered by the Hebrew mind to be our inner nature - the workings of our mind as it is instructed by the Holy Spirit using as His primary text, the Word of God. Thus the mouth is instructed by none other than the Holy Spirit Himself - who takes the Word and uses it to instruct us, through our spirit, so that our mind is taught. This working then brings to our mind things that should be filtered out - or in some cases filtered in. Scripture, for example, instructs us in Colossians 4:6, "Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person." What a great instruction for our mouths. Therefore, as the Spirit does this He asks us, "Hey Bubba (sorry, I live in Arkansas and this is pretty effective here), is what you are going to say gracious? Does it have a little 'salt of the gospel' in it - so that it will make whoever is hearing you thirsty for God - and the gospel?" Something else the Spirit of God might ask is this, "Yo Bubbba, did you think about what this person truly and lovingly NEEDS - or - are you just spouting off what you want to say to them?" These are things that will truly alter how you speak - because in all honesty - not even our words belong to us. We were bought with a price - therefore we are to glorify God with our bodies - which, by the way, includes our mouths! Here is another way our mouth can be instructed by the wisdom of the Spirit of God. He may choose to remind us of Ephesians 4:29 which says, "Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear." So this time the Spirit of God may chime in with something like this. "Dude (this is when I am in California), is what you are going to say wholesome, or does it smell like rotten fruit or nasty-smelling fish! Are you going to build up your friend - or just confirm him in the same worldly ways that his other friends speak? Like, you totally need to think about what he NEEDS right now! Have you even heard what HE'S been saying at a heart level in this conversation and others? Don't be a total bogart man - give him some grace - some love brother - some real helpful, encouraging, gospel-smelling stuff!" Now, apart from the regionalization of all this in my language - there are a few VERY important things we can learn from just these two examples. We learn how the Scriptures would be used by the Holy Spirit to instruct our mouths. First, note that in both examples the Lord wants to instruct us to think of others as we open our mouths. Second, note as well in both examples that the Lord wants us to have our words abound with grace as we speak. Lastly, there is either stated or implied that our words are to be used to build others up - not tear them down. You can take these three things to the verbal-bank! We ought to write them on the inside of our mouths, so to speak, so that we are reminded that any word that proceeds out of them should be - 1) others-minded, 2) filled with grace and the gospel, and 3) encouraging! Can you imagine the difference that would make in a matter of days in the things we say!? The rest of today's proverb reminds us that when we do this - our hearts will help us to have additional "persuasiveness" added to everything we say. I have known people like this in my life - and they are amazing people. They are the E.F. Hutton's of the spiritual world - and in many ways the world in general. When they speak - people listen! The amazing thing is that this is not because they have "earth-shaking" things to say every time they open their mouths. It is more because you will be blessed and uplifted whenever they speak! You want to hear what they say - because it nourishes your very soul to hear it. Precious ones . . . let us not be people whose mouths are instructed by our culture - or by our own selfish motives - or by the evil one who would love to use our mouths for his own destructive purposes. Let us be people of the grace-filled, love-overflowing, life-encouraging, Spirit-instructed mouth! Let us embrace hearing what our hearts have to say about what words we should use. And as we listen to this soul-nourishing instruction for our mouths - may we submit our hearts to be ruled and governed by the Holy Spirit of God. May His tutelage dominate our conversations, our statements, and our answers so that others may be blessed - made thirsty for the God who speaks through us - and hungry for the same gospel grace that has changed our hearts, which is the very reason that our conversation is so different! |
 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. 
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