Category: Perverse

What Kind of Mouth Wins the World? Proverbs 17:20

3/30/2012

He who has a crooked mind finds no good, And he who is perverted in his language falls into evil. Proverbs 17:20

If you know someone with a perverted mouth - it is because it flows from a morally bankrupt mind. Even as I reread this statement, something within me just recoils from such a strong statement as this - and yet - when we truly understand what God is saying here in Proverbs - that is exactly what is being communicated.

The first thing we see here is a man with a "crooked mind." The word for "crooked" is the Hebrew word "iqqesh" and it means to be perverse, twisted, and crooked. The idea is that of someone who has a moral, religous, and social perversion by which their mind works. They do not think thoughts that are aligned with decent morals. They despise not just morals - but also religion and any kind of social contract by which men seek to live together in a decent fashion. They highly despise the idea of morals that are the result of religious principle. They hate such things - seeing themselves as free moral agents to determine whatever morals or lack of them they want. The consequences of such moral mental suicide is that they cannot find any good. This really is not that shocking since they would deny the existance of any kind of universal good or absolute truth. To them truth is relative to the situation - and since they hate moral goodness - it is not difficult to see that they revel in the evil and the godless things of the world - and tend to shy away from anything else. Thus - of course they would reject the good - and not be able to find any in society.

The second thing we see is a man who is perverted in his language. Perverted language is language that seeks to throw down, overturn, destroy, and wander from accepted biblical norms of how we should speak. There is a lot of disagreement on what this means in today's society. We've slowly grown to be the first society historically in the church to embrace cursing from the pulpit. The excuse that is so often used is that of saying that words are just words - we are the ones that make them curse words - or at least bad ones. What I find a little disingenuous about all this is that even the world system used to have a set of words that they would not allow on television and movies. It has only been over the past couple of generations that these accepted norms have been overturned in favor of the current "delightful" fare that we've embraced in our day. As you can tell, I am of the opinion that such language is totally unacceptable not just for use in the pulpit - but for use in every day life. It seems to me that as our society has retreated from God - we've also retreated from being circumspect about the things we say. To confess my own sins - I've watched my own speech begin to be down-graded, if you will. The Holy Spirit is in the process of encouraging (and often rebuking) me as He seeks to have me live above the moral cesspool of the accepted speech of my society.

The danger here is that we are warned that such speech DOES come from a mind that is being twisted away from the truth. The other danger is that when we do this we are warned that we "fall into evil." Whenever the church thinks it can reach the world by aping the world's behavior - we watch the opposite happen. First, we do not reach the world - but oh, how the world "reaches" us. We watch the same value systems - which might better be called "value-less" systems - that are in the world truly invade the church. When we do not watch our mouths - we will allow a kind of reverse-infection to occur in our hearts. The word used for mind in the first part of this verse actually means, "heart." Therefore when we do not watch our mouths - it is evidence that our hearts have been captured as well.

Jesus said that out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. Therefore is it too strident a thing to say that if we have a perverse mouth - it arises out of a twisted and deceived mind? Our mouths simply reveal what is in our hearts. It would be to our benefit to watch our mouths and be careful what is allowed to come forth from them. In the end - we might look more "appetizing" the world if we do - but could that be simply because we lose the distinction of speaking in a holy manner that embraces purity and righteousness.

Let me say one last thing though - unless some get the idea that I think we are to be the public censure of all that is unacceptable speech-wise. We are called to be salt and light. That means we embrace holiness - not as a means of beating the lost to death - but as a means to be different and to be a thirst-creator in our world. The lost WILL become thirsty for what we ARE - and therefore will want the One who has changed us. Our purpose is to allow holiness to be revealed in our lives as a thirst-agent. We are not to use holiness as something to shame the lost into feigned obedience to God. That will do more to harm the gospel than reveal it. So . . . my admonition to you from Scripture is to have a mouth that is radically different than the world. Let your mouth not be filled with perversion - and your heart filled with deception and twisted morals. Instead let it be filled with Your Lord - who, by the way, did not descend into such language anywhwere in the gospels. He simply lived for God - spoke for Him - and although rejected by some - was embraced by many who saw His actions - His words - and His heart - and became incredibly thirsty for real holiness. May God make us those same things in our generation.

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Do You Incite God's Disgust or His Delight? Proverbs 11:20

11/1/2011

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The perverse in heart are an abomination to the LORD, But the blameless in their walk are His delight. Proverbs 11:20

When God uses the word "abomination" it is only when it is about things that are very serious - and very wrong. Today's proverb uses that word as well as later using the word "delight." We have before us a proverb that tells us what God hates, as well as what He loves.

What God considers to be an abomination is someone who is perverse in heart. The word for "perverse" is the Hebrew "iqqesh" which speaks of something or someone who is crooked and perverse. This word is used to describe those who have moral, religious, or social perversions - and was used corporately of Israel to describe their crookedness. This one is twisted in their thinking, and therefore tends to twist what God says so that in the end God says what he wants to say. The perversity is said to be in the heart of this individual. Since we know that Scripture says that our hearts are the watercourse of our lives - this is a very serious problem. The fundamental center of this person's decision-making process is crooked and twisted. God considers such a man an abomination. In case we need any reminder what the word abomination means, we can know that it means to abhort or to detest. The word loathe is also associated with this concept.

Before we jump to a conclusion and state that God shouldn't feel this way about someone, we need to remind ourselves why Satan was cast our of heaven. It is because he had a perverse heart that lifted himself above God. The heart of the devil is a despicable thing - and God abhors it - and all those who seek to function with that same flawed, perverse thinking will fall under the wame ban

But before we think this proverb is just about the evil, we have an equal and opposite action and attitude as well. The Lord delights in those who are blameless in their walk. They seek to honor and obey God in all things. This is not just in isolated incidents, but speaks of their entire way of life. We see the Hebrew word "derek" used here - which speaks of a lifestyle. It is their way of life - to seek to be blameless before God and man. The Lord loves such a person - and finds His delight in watching them honor Him throughout their day. In the end, this is due as well to the state of their heart as well. They delight in obeying Him - and He delights in their obedience.

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Ignore . . . then blame God. - Proverbs 19:3

12/19/2009

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The foolishness of man ruins his way, And his heart rages against the Lord. Proverbs 19:3

Do you find it interesting as I do that people who do not want to honor or follow God, suddenly want to blame Him for things when their lives fall apart? I've run into people who have no use for God until they need someone to blame when problems come into their lives. So, why should I be shocked when God's book or wisdom tells me the very same thing.

The foolishness of man is what ruins his way. This word means to be silly and foolish - to be perverse. The fool does not want wisdom or understanding - usually the fool wants a good time - regardless of the cost. The fool wants to do his own thing, and if his own thing is contrary to God's will, that's too bad. The rest of the proverbs tells us about the fool - he is quick-tempered, lacks sense, and deceitful. He is naive and often repeats the same evil again and again, never learning from the experience. You can easily see why the foolishness of the fool leads to the ruin of his way. When you live and make decisions contrary to the Word of God, you will wind up with a mess in your life.

It would be one thing for the fool to experience these things and learn from them, but if you remember correctly, the fool does not learn. Here we read that the fool's heart rages aainst Jehovah when these things happen. The word "rage" actually speaks of a storm raging. What happens is that the fool has a storm raging on the inside of him - a storm that exhibits itself as rage to the outside world. In the midst of experiencing the fruit of his way - the consequences of his actions, the fool has a hurricane building on the inside. That raging storm manifests itself outwardly when the fool rages against God. Besides, He is the One Who put such consequences into place. He is the One Who made it where acting a certain way brings a certain result. Or the fool rages against God's Law and commandments. He rages that God has given such things - making them so intractable.

It just blows my mind that all this rage explodes against God - and yet they don't acknowledge Him until that moment. One would think it strange to ignore and deny the existance of Someone until the eternal nature of His law manifests itself in the myriad of consequences that are coming upon them. But then again that is the MO of the fool. He lives for his foolishness - never taking thought of God's Law or ways - until those ways come crashing down upon them as the consequences of their actions.

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Yes Virginia, There is Evil in this World - Proverbs 2:12-15

12/2/2009

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To deliver you from the way of evil, From the man who speaks perverse things; 13 From those who leave the paths of uprightness To walk in the ways of darkness; 14 Who delight in doing evil And rejoice in the perversity of evil; 15 Whose paths are crooked, And who are devious in their ways; Proverbs 2:12-15

Why is wisdom needed? Well for many in the modern mindset, maybe it isn't. They contend that the basic nature of man is good. Yet the very reason for wisdom is the fact that evil exists. But we are not being told about evil in theory - we are being told here that evil men exist. The battle with evil in theory is one only in our minds - but a battle with evil that actually involves evil men - that is another story altogether.

The first thing we learn is that there is a "way of evil" that exists in our world. We are facing those who have developed lifestyles that embrace evil. The facts are in - and those facts clearly delineate for us that man is fallen. The facts also indicate that being fallen, man has developed a whole way of life that is contrary to the will of God. If we are not careful and wise - we will find ourselves following that path - that way of evil. According to Solomon, we need to be delivered from the way of evil. Maybe this is why we hear John telling us, "Do not love the world or the things of the world, if anyone loves the world the love of the Father is not in him."

The way we are drawn into this way of evil is by men who speak perverse things. This perverse speech involves saying things that distort and deviate from what God has said and what God wants. It is deceptive, corrupt speaking that either denies the Word or twists it until it suits our fallen appetites. That's why we need wisdom and discretion - the ability to distinguish between things godly and ungodly. We need to know when an "evil man" is trying to deceive us and lead us astray.

The evil man leaves the paths of uprightness to walk in their darkness. Here it is again - the fact that there is an entire walk and path that is ungodly. But we also learn that there is a corresponding walk that is upright and godly. The evil man leaves God's ways and chooses those that are dark instead. We learn again from John that the ungodly hate the light and do not come to the light. That is the way of the evil man. That is also why we need wisdom and understanding - to remind us that fellowship with the evil man means fellowship with darkness. It seems that God is trying to get us to see that there is a light/darkness - good/evil - godly/ungodly situation in life.

Worldly wisdom equates the best of thinking and acting to mankind. That is why they are shocked with evil rears its head. They want to think the best of man - when the truth is man IS capable of the worst atrocities. Proverbs tells us that there are those men who "delight in doing evil and rejoice in perversity." We almost shrink from these statements - yet that is what is said here.

If there has been a "fall" of mankind into sin that has corrupted them utterly - then it really isn't that much of a stretch that man rejoices in evil and perversity. To fallen man - evil is good and good is evil. Isn't that what we see today? In our world evil is called good and good evil. They consider the things of God strange and His commandments as burdensome. They see freedom as bondage and their current state of bondage as freedom. Delight in doing evil then becomes the norm - and it should not be all that strange to see those devoting entire programs on television and articles in writing to rejoice in how they pervert the straight paths of God.

Look at the sexual revolution of the 60's as an example. The morals of the past were thrown off (possibly the biggest lie of that period was to deny that such things had always been happening - just that they were done far more secretly). But I think that the shock was not that morals were cast aside, but that now those acting immorally were rejoicing openly in their perversity. The movement was not just a desire to set aside what is right - it was a rejoicing in what heretofore was considered evil. What is even more amazing to me is that several generations of this behavior has led to society adopting such actions as normal - and now even certain segments of society say we should rejoice in evil. NOW we get why we need to cry out to God for wisdom, discretion, and knowledge to escape such a fate.

The final statement about the way of evil is that their direction in life becomes like their heart. Their paths (again the word for lifestyle) are crooked. Crooked is the Hebrew word 'iqqesh'. It means something that is morally, religiously, and socially perverted. This perversity comes from the source of an evil, deceitful, perverse heart. No longer are certain actions perverted - but the whole direction and path of their life runs counter to the truth of God.

Their lifestyle is finally described as being devious. This is the last straw. It describes a person who has followed their perverse and wicked ways to the point where they now despise and reject God's ways. They find them abhorrent. What is worse is that they are utterly blind to their condition.

What we have described for us is the natural degradation of fallen men. They may begin with the remnants of God's image within them - but as they continue in their perversity they soon scald their conscience and harden it to the point where they no longer feel any shame in their sin. By the way, this is exactly what is taught to us in Romans chapter one. We learn that man begins with denying God and being ungrateful, but ends with those who cheer on the wickedness of man - preferring their own perversity to anything God has to offer. In light of such an ignoble end - we see why Solomon impresses on his son the importance of crying out to God for wisdom and understanding. There is too much at stake here to live and let live. The fall of man guarantees that what starts as a mere snowflake will become a massive ball of snow that destroys all in its path. May such a vision of the destructive power of our core perverseness motivate us to a passionate cry for God's wisdom and a desperate search for His ways and paths.

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Proverb A DAy

What Kind of Mouth Wins the World? Proverbs 17:20

Do You Incite God's Disgust or His Delight? Proverbs 11:20

Ignore . . . then blame God. - Proverbs 19:3

Yes Virginia, There is Evil in this World - Proverbs 2:12-15

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​Proverb A DAy

What Kind of Mouth Wins the World? Proverbs 17:20

Do You Incite God's Disgust or His Delight? Proverbs 11:20

Ignore . . . then blame God. - Proverbs 19:3

Yes Virginia, There is Evil in this World - Proverbs 2:12-15

Proverb a Day

Archives

Proverb A DAy