Proverbs 24

Proverbs 24

1 Be not envious of evil men, nor desire to be with them, 2 for their hearts devise violence, and their lips talk of trouble.

3 By wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established; 4 by knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches. 5 A wise man is full of strength, and a man of knowledge enhances his might, 6 for by wise guidance you can wage your war, and in abundance of counselors there is victory. 7 Wisdom is too high for a fool; in the gate he does not open his mouth.

8 Whoever plans to do evil will be called a schemer. 9 The devising of folly is sin, and the scoffer is an abomination to mankind.

10 If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small. 11 Rescue those who are being taken away to death; hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter. 12 If you say, “Behold, we did not know this,” does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who keeps watch over your soul know it, and will he not repay man according to his work?

13 My son, eat honey, for it is good, and the drippings of the honeycomb are sweet to your taste. 14 Know that wisdom is such to your soul; if you find it, there will be a future, and your hope will not be cut off.

15 Lie not in wait as a wicked man against the dwelling of the righteous; do no violence to his home; 16 for the righteous falls seven times and rises again, but the wicked stumble in times of calamity.

17 Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and let not your heart be glad when he stumbles, 18 lest the Lord see it and be displeased, and turn away his anger from him.

19 Fret not yourself because of evildoers, and be not envious of the wicked, 20 for the evil man has no future; the lamp of the wicked will be put out.

21 My son, fear the Lord and the king, and do not join with those who do otherwise, 22 for disaster will arise suddenly from them, and who knows the ruin that will come from them both?

More Sayings of the Wise

23 These also are sayings of the wise.

Partiality in judging is not good. 24 Whoever says to the wicked, “You are in the right,” will be cursed by peoples, abhorred by nations, 25 but those who rebuke the wicked will have delight, and a good blessing will come upon them. 26 Whoever gives an honest answer kisses the lips.

27 Prepare your work outside; get everything ready for yourself in the field, and after that build your house.

28 Be not a witness against your neighbor without cause, and do not deceive with your lips. 29 Do not say, “I will do to him as he has done to me; I will pay the man back for what he has done.”

30 I passed by the field of a sluggard, by the vineyard of a man lacking sense, 31 and behold, it was all overgrown with thorns; the ground was covered with nettles, and its stone wall was broken down. 32 Then I saw and considered it; I looked and received instruction. 33 A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, 34 and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man.

Devotional

Introduction

Have you ever felt jealous of a non-Christian or someone who seems to have a better life than you, but who isn't necessarily following the Lord? There have been many people in my life who I know I have been jealous of, and yet I know I am better off than them.

I recently watched a recorded concert performed by a stage and television actor, who is most famous for his singing in many musicals. This man inspires me in many ways, mainly for being multi-talented. And yet there is one factor that I find incredibly problematic - his homosexuality and promotion of it. In fact, in the concert, he promotes the livelihood in many of his songs, and it is sad to see such support even from the audience.

I might easily become jealous, because he has such great talent, or great acting ability or the like. But to idolise him as a celebrity would be incredibly wrong for me. Perhaps he is a nice guy, but in the eyes of merciful God who offers him grace in Jesus, he is wicked.

In Proverbs 24:8-9, Solomon describes the "evil man". He is a "schemer" or "craft". He devises folly (which Proverbs defines as sin) and he becomes and abomination to mankind. In Psalm 38, it says:

"Those who seek my life lay their snares; those who seek my hurt speak of ruin and meditate treachery all day long." (Psalm 38:12)

They also cause traps for us. They meditate on destruction and treachery all the time. They are not pleasant people. Whether consciously or subconsciously, they actually create a path for us that leads to our own ruin. So Proverbs and Psalms help to define the evil man. But it offers us some imperatives, some commands, which we should follow so that we might not fall into evil ourselves.

Study

1) Do not fret over them (vs.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." (vs.19-20)

Psalm 37:1 says a very similar thing to these verses: "Fret not yourself because of evildoers;

be not envious of wrongdoers!". The fretting perhaps doesn't mean being scared of the wrongdoers, but being scared you will not be provided for, or that you have no hope.

One of the reasons we might fall into temptation is because we think it might lead to a better life than we have now. In fact, we often sin because we think we are acting for our own good. It actually only harms others and even ourselves in the process.

Matthew 6 talks of the kind of fretting we might have.

"“Therefore I tell you,do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you,even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you,O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness,and all these things will be added to you." (Matthew 6:25-33)

Whilst this might be more material, it is the same kind of selfish fretting we can have when we look at those who are not Christians, and yet are blessed physically. It's like we think that because they do wrong things they are blessed physically. But I can assure you, the two are not a positive correlation. We all have done evil things, and for whatever reason, God has blessed some more richly on earth than others. But it's God's common grace (eg.provision of physical needs) that sustains life on earth.

And like Jesus says, if God cares for the physical nourishment of plants and animals, surely he provides for us. If God provides for the evil man, how much more for the righteous. Thank God instead for what he has granted you. And even more so, thank God that you have a good future, unlike the evil man who will be condemned.

2) Do not be envious (vs.1-2)

"Be not envious of evil men,  nor desire to be with them, for their hearts devise violence,  and their lips talk of trouble. (vs.1-2)

I suppose the next step in fretting is being envious. It's not just plain worry, it gets deeper in sin as we become jealous over what we do not have, and the evil man does. But once again the passage directs us not to consider what they have hear on earth or to feel that desire to be alongside them, but instead to recognise them for who they are. They devise violence and talk of trouble.

Truly, if we looked at them for who they are, we would not feel envious. We would see how much better off we are, because we have an eternal hope with the God who provides those blessings, whilst they will be separated from that God for eternity.

And if we could not see that very clearly, Psalm 38:12 (from the intro) helps us to remember another factor: they cause harm to me. So not only are you better off not following them from an eternal perspective, you are better off even from a physical perspective. They will harm you, so do not be envious.

3) Do not act like them (vs.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." (vs.15-16)

I suppose the next step we must avoid is acting like them. If we are anxious and then envious over what we think we lack, we might act. In these verses, it talks of how we might try and overcome the righteous.

Notice something, if you are righteous, you might fall multiple times, but you will rise again. You might be overtaken by the evil ones, but you will always be able to rise again. The wicked do not have that option. Once they fall, it seems they will not be able to get up.

When we act like the wicked, we will fall and stumble. The person who helps the righteous to get up is their redeemer Jesus. So the question is, do you really want to be like the wicked man? It is really no good for them.

And the simple option is to not act like them. Because as soon as we do, we set a trap for ourselves. We will stumble whereas the righteous will always be able to get up again by the mercy of God.

Conclusion

Perhaps you have a celebrity crush a bit like mine, and you feel compelled to be anxious or jealous of their lifestyle. Perhaps you might even follow their sinful ways. But in the end, you know where they are going. If they are not following the Lord, they are condemned.

I fall into this trap all the time. Why hasn't God blessed me with such talents? What have I done wrong? Why are they better off when I have done all this good stuff? Should I be doing the bad stuff?

In the end, this life only matters for one thing: changing our ways and following Jesus in order that we might live with him in eternity. This is a kind of prologue to a story that will never end. But when you are discontented with God and think you would be content in a celebrity's shoes, or in an evil man's shoes, you are only setting a progressive trap for yourself from which you cannot be rescued from when this life ends and you enter into eternity.

Make your decision carefully, it will have eternal consequences.