Who to Fear

For Friday, August 17, 2007
Proverbs 24:21-22

My son, fear the Lord and the king,
and do not join with those who do otherwise,
for disaster from them will rise suddenly,
and who knows the ruin that will
come from them both?

It is our tendency to separate the authority of the Lord from that of the king (person in position over us). The "king" could be our President or mayor or boss or teacher or parent - anyone who has responsibility for us. We are quick to point out the deficiencies of the "king," claiming that we follow only God. And so we neglect the tendency of Scripture to equate obedience to earthly authority with that of obedience to God. Read Romans 13 and 1 Peter 2. Consider the scriptural principal that we are to respect positions of authority in whatever circumstance that may be - parent to child, official to citizen, master to servant, husband to wife. Certainly there are many in authority who abuse their position, and they will be held accountable to God. But we are not to be quick to reject the authority of others who have been duly placed in their positions.

Apply this to church. Everyone who joins a church are happy to say that they will abide by the authority of the church leaders. But let the moment come when elders hold a person to account for his actions, and he will quickly reject their "presumption." He must be faithful to God and reject the counsel of the elders who are God's undershepherds responsible for the flock. The same pattern follows in the workplace and school and other areas. We know best. We know what God wants. It is up to us to stand against appointed leaders.

Take to heart the final warning: "Who knows the ruin that will come from them both?" People have gone from job to job, from church to church, even from marriage to marriage because everyone else is being unreasonable; no one else seems to understand what they alone can see. Fear the Lord and the king, the person placed in authority over you. If indeed that person is wrong, then all the more fear the Lord who is in control. Ultimately, the question is a matter of trust. Will we trust the Lord to have placed certain people over us for our ultimate good? Will we take the time to examine our hearts and discover what our Lord would have us learn about ourselves?

No Future

For Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Proverbs 24:19-20

Fret not yourself because of evildoers,
and be not envious of the wicked,
for the evil man has no future;
the lamp of the wicked will be put out.

It is proper to concern ourselves with seeing that justice is carried out and that the oppressed are protected. In such a spirit we are to concern ourselves with thwarting the deeds of the wicked. However, we are to carry out our actions with the idea that if we fail, then the wicked have won. It is good to bring a wicked person to justice, but understand that the real justice takes place before the throne of God who rules with perfect knowledge and power.

No one is getting away with anything. The wicked are digging their own graves and sealing their own doom. God sees all; more to the point, God is working out all things for his glory to be displayed in his justice and in his mercy. All persons will receive what he has ordained, and in such a way that all mouths will be silenced at the time of their hearing before the Almighty Judge. And all knees will bow before the King.

Nothing can stop that inevitable conclusion. Certainly no wicked creature can thwart God's purposes. They, who spent their lives mocking their Creator; they who believed they were outwitting the Law will find their "lamps" put out. They have no future, i. e. no future of blessing. They will wish they had no existence, that they had never been born. Keep this in mind the next time you fret over the way the wicked seem to be winning and prospering. And pray for their souls.

Attitude Check

For Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Proverbs 24:17-18

Do not rejoice when your enemy falls,
and let not your heart be glad when he stumbles,
lest the Lord see it and be displeased,
and turn away his anger from him.

This proverb seems to contradict other Scripture that speaks of rejoicing in one's victory over enemies. Indeed, doesn't the very desire for justice require joy over the downfall of wicked enemies? And that is the type of enemy meant here; otherwise the Lord's anger would not be against him.

We recognize the attitude of God here, especially if we are parents of more than one child. We ourselves, after punishing one child, will turn to the other and rebuke him for gloating over the offending sibling. And that is what this proverb is about - gloating over another's downfall. Have you noticed in movies how, when the bad guy gets "what's coming to him," his devious plans are not merely foiled, but he suffers an humiliating or especially horrible death. The producer knows that the audience is not contented with evil being checked or the innocent being vindicated. The wicked must suffer. That is what will fill the audience with satisfaction. The audience must be able to gloat.

And that is what we want in real life. We want the driver who swerved in front of us to be pulled over immediately so we can gloat over him. (We wouldn't even mind if he wrecked.) We want whoever offends us to be humbled, not because we desire the welfare of their soul but because we want to gloat. It is right to desire justice; but we too often confuse such a desire with our sinful desire for personal one-uppance. Our attitude for justice is found precisely in our attitude toward the wicked. Do we rejoice over their downfall or do we mourn that they would not repent? Justice must come, and we should rejoice over justice. But we should mourn the soul that is lost.

We forget that we too are sinners deserving God's wrath. God's displeasure could easily and rightly be turned against us, if it were not for our Lord, who instead of gloating over his enemies (us), gave himself for us and made us God's children.

The Righteous' Protection

For Monday, August 13, 2007
Proverbs 24:15-16

Lie not in wait as a wicked man against
the dwelling of the righteous;
do no violence to his home;
for the righteous falls seven times and rises again,
but the wicked stumble in times of calamity.

This proverb takes a twist. Instead of counseling against committing violence against the righteous as a moral issue, he addresses it from a standpoint of practicality. Conventional thought is that preying upon the righteous is easy work. The righteous are naive; they do not strike back; they tend to believe the best in people. Who better to take advantage of?

The righteous might seem easy prey, but they also prove themselves to be resilient. They may fall down, but they rise again. Why do they? The proverbs equate righteousness with wisdom. Thus they have the wisdom necessary to carry on. And they are not as naive as they may seem. A common mistake of the wicked is to believe that courtesy and generosity are symptomatic of naiveté, when instead they actually signify confidence. The righteous have not put their hope in possessions. Thus to lose such things does not undo them. The wicked, on the other hand, do put their faith in material possession and earthly power; thus to lose such things completely undermines their confidence. They miscalculate what is of real value; they underestimate the strength of others who are unlike them.

But the underlying cause of the righteous' resilience and the wicked's lack thereof is God. The Lord protects and delivers the righteous. He attacks the wicked. Never take God out of the equation. With such a perspective, David won victory over Goliath: "Your servant has struck down both lions and bears, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God... The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine" (1 Samuel 17:36-37).

As with David, there is more than meets the eye with the righteous. Even more so, the Lord is their deliverer.