Repaid Well

For Wednesday, August 17, 2005
Proverbs 11:31

If the righteous is repaid on earth,
how much more the wicked and the sinner!

This proverb aptly sums up chapter 11. "Righteousness delivers from death"; "a gracious woman gets honor"; "a man who is kind benefits himself"; "the one who sows righteousness gets a sure reward"; "whoever is steadfast in righteousness will live"; "the desire of the righteous ends only in good"; "one gives freely, yet grows all the richer"; "whoever brings blessing will be enriched"; "whoever diligently seeks good seeks favor"; "the righteous will flourish like a green leaf." Now if the righteous receive is repaid with blessing, all the more the wicked will be repaid with condemnatnion. The wicked receive disgrace, destruction, captivity, perished hope, trouble, hurt, deceptive wages, death, punishment, want, cursing, evil, empty inheritance.

If you care about yourself; if you want what is best for you, which path, then, should you choose? Whom should you choose to follow? In whom should you place your hope? Should you be angered by the person who uses wicked ways to get ahead of you, or should you pity him? Who is richer: your unscrupulous neighbor or you? Perhaps this prayer needs to be made for you today: "That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints" (Ephesians 1:17-18).