A man will not be established by wickedness, But the root of the righteous will not be moved. Proverbs 12:3
This very proverb has a wonderful parallel in the New Testament in the sermon on the mount. The parable of the foundations deals with how the man who built his house on the sand, having no foundation except on sand, had his house fall. The man who rooted his house on the rock, Jesus Christ, stood against all the storms and winds that beat upon it.
The man who seeks to be established on wickedness is kidding himself. He won't know any kind of firmness or rooting. The word here means to be firm or fixed, to be steadfast and deeply founded. The picture is of a house that has deep moorings into the ground and as a result is very stable and strong. There is no promise of this for the man who wants to dig his roots into wickedness. He won't know stability - he won't have strength that will last. When troubles and trials, storms and winds come upon his life - he will fall flat.
"Shoresh" is the Hebrew word used to speak of the root of the righteous. It is a word that means a deeply rooted plant that goes far down into the ground. It refers in Scripture to things like the root and base of a mountain - the roots of large trees - and even the origins of someone or something, speaking of their roots. These are righteous roots though. This man roots himself in what is right. But where can we learn what is right in every circumstance? Jesus tells us that this is when we hear His words and do them. This is the place to find what is right - but more than that - to be rooted in what is right. We are promised that this kind of root won't be moved. Just as Jesus said, this house - this life - will have the winds come down - the rain come down - the storms rise against it and beat on it. But they will not prevail - and that house and life will not fall.
In a time when the world around us seems to be shaking at its very roots - men are scouring their minds trying to think of something or find something that will give them stability - it is interesting that we know there is a root that cannot be moved. Oh, that men would turn to this root and find the stability for which they long.
This very proverb has a wonderful parallel in the New Testament in the sermon on the mount. The parable of the foundations deals with how the man who built his house on the sand, having no foundation except on sand, had his house fall. The man who rooted his house on the rock, Jesus Christ, stood against all the storms and winds that beat upon it.
The man who seeks to be established on wickedness is kidding himself. He won't know any kind of firmness or rooting. The word here means to be firm or fixed, to be steadfast and deeply founded. The picture is of a house that has deep moorings into the ground and as a result is very stable and strong. There is no promise of this for the man who wants to dig his roots into wickedness. He won't know stability - he won't have strength that will last. When troubles and trials, storms and winds come upon his life - he will fall flat.
"Shoresh" is the Hebrew word used to speak of the root of the righteous. It is a word that means a deeply rooted plant that goes far down into the ground. It refers in Scripture to things like the root and base of a mountain - the roots of large trees - and even the origins of someone or something, speaking of their roots. These are righteous roots though. This man roots himself in what is right. But where can we learn what is right in every circumstance? Jesus tells us that this is when we hear His words and do them. This is the place to find what is right - but more than that - to be rooted in what is right. We are promised that this kind of root won't be moved. Just as Jesus said, this house - this life - will have the winds come down - the rain come down - the storms rise against it and beat on it. But they will not prevail - and that house and life will not fall.
In a time when the world around us seems to be shaking at its very roots - men are scouring their minds trying to think of something or find something that will give them stability - it is interesting that we know there is a root that cannot be moved. Oh, that men would turn to this root and find the stability for which they long.
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