Getting It

For Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Proverbs 29:7

A righteous man knows the rights of the poor;
a wicked man does not understand such knowledge.

The wicked man just doesn't get it. His brain does not comprehend the concept of justice. To him, the winnings go to the rich and the powerful. Life is about getting to the top and staying on top. To him, this is the ways things are. Indeed, it is his code. He does not complain about not being treated mercifully. He doesn't expect anything to be given him. He doesn't assert his rights. Instead, he tries to play the system of beating rivals. He might get angry if he loses, but he doesn't think of appealing to justice.

The righteous man knows there is a code determined divinely under which all creatures are to live - great and small, rich and poor. The "rights of the poor" are divinely instituted. Furthermore, he understands that in relation to God everyone is poor. There is no strong man who can assert himself above anyone else and certainly not God. To respect the rights of the poor is a concession that God is the one who sets the code and that we are all under obligation to obey him. "Rights" are not about asserting what we have coming to us, but of asserting that there is such a thing as justice that does not bend to anyone's power or position.

The righteous man gets it; the wicked man does not. The result is seen in the way they live and treat others. One will bear good fruit as a result, the other will bear sour fruit. One will inherit the kingdom of God, the other will go to his destruction. Such are the stakes for "getting it."