What We May Meet

For Monday, December 26, 2005
Proverbs 14:22

Do they not go astray who devise evil?
Those who devise good meet steadfast love and faithfulness.

Those who devise evil certainly go astray from the path of righteousness; they also go astray and miss what they desire (unless they believe such things do not exist) - steadfast love and faithfulness. Who does not desire to have friends and family who love them and will remain faithful to them? The most wicked man wants someone to count on. If he claims that he doesn't, it is only because he is disillusioned, believing that love and faithfulness are empty dreams. He does not connect his behavior with his failure to find such things.

There are some who have been hurt after attempts of showing love and kindness. Some who have been faithful to another, only to be turned on by that person. And so they become bitter. But the proverb is not teaching that those who devise good will always meet steadfast love and faithfulness in everyone. This will not happen in a world of sin, but the experience is more likely to happen, and will happen more frequently, for the one who conciously seeks the good of others. It is worthwhile to devise good deeds, to plan ways to bless others.

And always remember that you will meet the steadfast love and faithfulness of the Lord. Indeed, let him be your model, he who remains faithful to his people, though we continually break his commandments; he who shows us steadfast love, though we often show petty resentment in the ways we respond to daily experiences. Let the Lord Jesus Christ be your model for devising good today. Who knows what you will then meet.