Greetings everyone. Let’s turn to Proverbs 21 and begin in verse 1 as we go through this book of Proverbs in this Bible Study. Verse 1 says:
1 The king’s heart is in the hand of the—
Eternal or the
1 —Lord, as the rivers of water: he turns it whithersoever he will.
In other words, the king has free moral agency, as do all human beings. And anyone in a position of leadership has free moral agency. And yet the Great God in heaven is in charge of the whole universe, and when He needs to and when He wants to, He will intervene and change the course of history and change the decisions that a leader will make, including a president or a king.
It’s up to God. He’s in charge and He has kept hands off of man, generally speaking, of mankind and the history of mankind for the last 6,000 years. He still intervenes when it’s necessary and still intervenes when He decides to, and when He decides to do that, the king’s mind, the king’s heart, the king’s goings are in His hand. He can direct those and change the course of that action and change the direction of those decisions, just like He can intervene and change the course of rivers and the channels of waters and make it go in whatever direction He wants it to go in and achieve whatever He wants it to achieve.
And this does not do away with free moral agency. This works within the principle of free moral agency. It’s just that God is in charge, and when He needs to or decides to, He can exercise His power to bring about whatever He wants, including turning the mind of man in a different direction to make the policy judgments or decisions that He wishes to be made for the good of His people or the good of His work or for whatever reason He decides. But, generally speaking, he leaves man as free moral agents to make choices and decisions on his own, and yet He always shows the way that is best in terms of choices. But He doesn’t make us choose that way. He makes it available and those who will listen and heed and look and seek and want it are being very wise and will make much, much better decisions and wiser choices.
But verse 1 just shows that when it’s all said and done, God is in charge of people, places and things, including the hearts of kings and including the rivers of waters, and what He wants done is what is going to be done.
2 Every way of a man is right in his own eyes: but the Lord ponders the hearts.
And see, we’ve got to grow as Christians to where we realize that our ways aren’t right and that we aren’t right, and then we repent of that and begin to live life God’s way and begin to see ourselves the way God sees us and come to realize that we must change, we must be forgiven, and we must begin to follow Jesus Christ, and we must be clean in the eyes of God, and we must be pleasing in the eyes of Jesus Christ—not trying to be pleasing in the eyes of others or in our own eyes.
Of course we try to let our light shine and set a proper example for others. But when it comes to righteousness, God is the final judge on that and that’s who decides in the final analysis who is right and what is right. And so that’s who we try to please, and that’s who we try to obey, and that’s who we try to follow. Because, you see, it says right here in verse 2, while every man thinks he’s right, in the end analysis and in the final bottom line situation, it’s God who decides what is right because after all He knows what’s inside our minds and what’s inside our hearts. And so He is the proper judge, the righteous judge, and He is the one who weighs the intent and heart and mind of all of us and makes right judgments about our actions and about our character.
So we want to make sure that we are close to Him, that we are serving Him, that we are obeying Him and we’re trying to do that which is right in His eyes, not trying to please ourselves and please others and do that which is right according to carnal human nature—ours and others.
3 To do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the Eternal than sacrifice.
In other words, we have convoluted values in our society today. The things that seem so important to everybody else is not really that important to God. And the things that are really important to God is not really that important to typical mankind. And that’s where conversion comes in and complete change and walking in newness of life and becoming a new creature in Jesus Christ, and then we begin to realize that the most important thing is justice and judgment. That’s way more important than sacrifice. That’s way more important than having a do–gooder mentality. That’s way more important than trying to impress others and even trying to impress God with our good deeds.
What He looks for is an attitude of humility and justice and judgment, and then when we have that attitude, then when we do good and then when we offer sacrifice, it will be acceptable to God. But where that humility and justice and judgment isn’t there and it’s just us doing it on our own, trying to bribe or impress others or God Himself, it’s not something that God is pleased with, nor is it acceptable to Him.
So we have to understand what really matters to God and then everything flows from that. Rather than ignoring that and trying to figure out ourselves what’s important, let’s find out what God says is important and rise to that level. And then our efforts and our sacrifices will be pleasing in His sight.
4 A high look, and a proud heart, and the plowing of the wicked, is sin.
Once again, over and over again in this book of Proverbs we see God pointing out such things as vanity and pride and haughtiness and snootiness and uppityness and a high look and a proud heart—full of pride and vanity and arrogance and egotism. He doesn’t like that. It’s unacceptable. It’s all about self. It’s really satanic if you take it to its ultimate origin.
4 —and the plowing of the wicked—
All of that is sin. The way of the wicked, the effort of the wicked, the labor of the wicked, values and standards and twisted, perverted ideas of the wicked, the lamp of the wicked, the life of the wicked—all of what’s mentioned in verse 4 you can lump together and draw a line straight to the word sin because that’s what it all adds up to and what it all leads to. And God wants us to get rid of that in our lives and He’ll help us get rid of it if we cry out to Him and ask Him to help us. We will replace a high look with a humble attitude. We will replace a proud heart with a meek mind and outlook, and we will replace the plowing of the wicked or the ways of the wicked with the ways of righteousness. And then none of that will be sin because all of that has been replaced with what is good in God’s eyes. And then therefore instead of it adding up to sin, our attitude, our actions and our ways will add up to obedience and add up to pleasing God. That’s what Christianity is all about. Making that change from what is wrong to what is right through the power of God’s Holy Spirit and having Christ live His life over again inside us. Proverbs talks about all these things—practical Christian living.
5 The thoughts of the diligent tend only to plenteousness; but of every one that is hasty only to want.
Once again, the plans of the diligent. A diligent person is not lazy. A diligent person is not full of self. A diligent person is not all wrapped up in get, get, get. But rather, a diligent person is dependable, and a diligent person has a pattern of responsibility. They will be on time. They will carry out their job. They will do what they do with all their might and they will get it right and they won’t settle for less. They pursue excellence, and so as a result of that, it leads to plenteousness.
A diligent person just seems to produce plenty of everything. It just leads in that direction, and so what a blessing that is to know that a person who is diligent day after day after day after day begins to see plenty emerge in their lives and around them.
5 —but of every one that is hasty—
Quick. Fast food this and fast results that and fast decisions here and hair–trigger there and impulsiveness over there, and driven by emotions in that situation. Too quick to jump, too quick to conclude, want everything right now instead of being patient and steady and stable and moving forward in a methodical way. Not in a plodding way, but in a steady, stable way. They don’t do that. But rather, they’re hasty. Well, then they end up having to go back and redo, and they end up jumping too quick and overreaching and the results are not good. Instead of being diligent and steady and prudent and wise, they’re shallow and quick and hasty, and more damage is done and more failure is produced as a result of that.
5 —only to want.
Poverty, in other words.
6 The getting of treasures by a lying tongue is a vanity tossed to and fro of them that seek death.
And yet people do it over and over and over again—cut corners, find the loophole, fudge on this and cheat on that. If you can get away with it, get away with it. That seems to be the mentality and the approach and the attitude nowadays. And sometimes people think, “Look at all this money we made by doing that. Look at all this money we made by gambling. Look at all this money we made by this crooked deal that we engaged in. Look at all this money we made by under–the–table dealings and plans and ideas.”
But you know what? Lying and cheating and devious methods of acquiring things ends up just being vanity that has no root system, has no foundation, has no stability, has no staying power. And it will all come to naught, it will all fall apart, and the people who engage in those kinds of things is going to find themselves in big trouble and even sometimes the result is death. So we need to avoid that. There’s the warning. I hope we hear and I hope we listen to it. I hope we pay attention to Proverbs 21:6.
7 The robbery of the wicked shall destroy them; because they refuse to do judgment.
Maybe a better translation of verse 7 would be: The violence of the wicked drag them away because they refuse to do justice. It basically means the same thing. But it’s a little clearer if we use a little more modern English sometimes as we go through this book and use the Authorized King James version. We can also use the New King James version, which is an excellent translation as well.
What verse 7 is telling us is that the actions of the wicked, which is always wrong and almost always involves violence, will end up really coming back on top of them and they’ll fall of their own weight. They will damage and even destroy themselves because they don’t want to do the right thing. They like to do the wrong thing. The right thing doesn’t interest them. It’s not fun. It’s not something that is really enjoyable to a wicked person. What they like to do is the wrong thing.
But you know, you just can’t make the wrong way work. Everything is governed by laws that God Himself created and sustains, and when we break those laws, it doesn’t matter how slick and smooth we are and how many people we have on our side and how much it looks like we got away with it, it won’t happen. The penalty, the failure, the painful results inevitably will come crashing right down on top of us. So what’s the point and what’s the lesson? Let’s do the right thing with God’s help and avoid the wrong thing.
8 The way of man is froward and strange: but as for the pure, his work is right.
In other words, the way of mankind, the way of humanity is wrong. It’s perverse. It’s strange when stacked up against God’s way of life. Oh, I mean, it might seem normal because that’s what’s been done for so many hundreds and thousands of years, and everybody is doing it and so you have “normal”, or the definition of normal, being perverted and twisted and diluted and corrupted, and it doesn’t work.
But when you really look for righteousness and true propriety and things done in a normal way according to God’s word, it’s opposite to the way man’s normal proceeds through life. Man’s way is perverse. It’s froward. It’s strange. It doesn’t work. That’s the big lesson God wants us to learn as human beings. And to come to Him and to live His way and to obey His word, and that then does work because as it says in verse 8:
8 —but as for the pure, his work is right.
That’s someone who listens to God, who pays attention to God, who tries to follow God and obey God. That’s the opposite to the froward man, who really is strange when you look at it from the vantage point of God and His word. Even though other people think it’s normal, that’s not what God thinks. As far as God is concerned, normal is being pure and doing it right.
9 It is better to dwell in a corner of the housetop, than with a brawling woman in a wide house.
A contentious woman in a wide house. There are many people who can explain what that means because of what they’ve experienced. What God is talking about here is the opposite of having a happy marriage where the husband honors the wife, provides for the wife, takes care of the wife, loves the wife, leads the wife, and the wife submits to the husband, cares for the husband, helps the husband, upholds the husband, cooperates with the husband, and is an equal partner, as a team in the marriage. And so when a wife doesn’t understand that and ends up just being critical and picky and petty and contentious, and even a brawling woman, then what it says here is
9 It is better to dwell in a corner of the housetop,—
Get up on the rooftop. The way the houses were built in the Middle East centuries ago—and in some cases they’re still built this way—you could walk up on the roof and there’d be railings up there, and you could even sleep up there. But it wasn’t the best place to be because then you’d be subjected to heat and to cold and to wind and rain and it was very uncomfortable depending on the conditions.
But having considered how uncomfortable staying up on the housetop and even in the corner of the housetop could be, Solomon is saying, even that is better than being down inside the house where you’re protected from the elements and yet you’re not protected from a contentious, brawling woman in a big, sprawling house. So, once again, lessons for all of us here, and in particular for Christian women in terms of conduct in the marriage, in the home, in the family.
10 The soul of the wicked desires evil: his neighbor finds no favor in his eyes.
I know it’s hard to believe that, but there is such thing as the criminal mind. There is such thing as the wicked and evil mind. There is such thing as people who really are not interested in doing things in the right way. They’re not interested in caring for other people and respecting other people and being sensitive to other people’s needs and being considerate of others. They just don’t think that way. They don’t want to be that way. They don’t like being that way.
They like being rude. They like being brash. They like being violent. They like being hateful and mean. They like being wicked and they don’t care anything about anybody else, and so therefore they will harm others, run over others, beat up others, rob others, steal from others. They will mistreat others, lie to others, just completely disregard anybody else’s feelings, and that’s what’s described here. The very innermost being of the wicked desire evil. That’s what they like.
His neighbor finds no favor in his eyes. No matter if he’s a good neighbor. He doesn’t care. To him his neighbor is just a bug that he will squash the first chance he gets. What a despicable, pathetic, disgusting state to be in, and yet in many areas of this world today, millions and even billions of human beings have that attitude. That’s going to be changed when Jesus Christ returns to this earth and establishes His kingdom on this earth and then teaches the right way to live and enforces that right way and requires it of everyone. God speed that day.
11 When the scorner is punished, the simple is made wise: and when the wise is instructed, he receives knowledge.
You know, a person who really wants to do the right thing will even learn from someone who does the wrong thing. They’ll learn not to do the wrong thing. And a simple person who might not have a whole lot of wisdom, but who has a good attitude, will pick up good lessons and good points when justice is done to the scoffer, or the scorner, and punishment is meted out. The simple person who may not be that wise yet will begin to understand. “Oh, I see, that worked and that didn’t work. Do that and it works out well. Do that, it doesn’t work out well. Hmmm, I’m going to be smarter. I’m going to be wiser now because I don’t want to suffer the results of what happens to a scorner or a scoffer.”
And notice this, verse 11, the last part. When the wise is instructed, he receives knowledge. So now you have a wise person who might be corrected, who might be given some instructions, strong or otherwise. He appreciates it. He doesn’t resent it. He doesn’t reject it. He receives it, and he grows in knowledge. It still gets back to attitude. Wanting to do the right thing, wanting more wisdom, and when we sincerely have that approach, God will respond and give us more wisdom and give us more knowledge and will instruct us, and we will even learn when others are punished. We will learn so that we don’t have to be punished like that.
12 The righteous man wisely considers the house of the wicked: but God overthrows the wicked for their wickedness.
This doesn’t mean the righteous man wisely considers the house of the wicked in terms of wanting to be like that or in terms of admiring that. What this means is, the righteous man wisely considers the house of the wicked in terms of cause and effect, in terms of actions and consequences, in terms of “Well, look at the wicked, look at what they did, and look at what happened to their house, look at what happened to their home, look at what happened to their family, look at what happened to their lives. Okay, I’m going to wisely weigh that out and not make those mistakes.”
And here’s what happens to them: God overthrows the wicked for their wickedness. We can watch and we can learn from the mistakes of the wicked, but God takes actions and overthrows them. We don’t have to try to do that. We leave that in God’s hands.
13 Whoso stops his ears at the cry of the poor, he also shall cry himself, but shall not be heard.
This theme runs throughout the book of Proverbs—how we deal with the poor, how we care for the poor, how we respond to the poor. We’re not talking about bums that won’t do anything for themselves, and therefore if you help them, they misuse it. We’re talking about priming the pump of those who have fallen on hard times and who would do well if they were given some help, and so we have it to give and so we go ahead and give it, and then sure enough they use it properly and they are on their way.
When we have that attitude, that feeling, that compassion, that empathy toward the poor, towards someone who is down and out, towards someone who is going through tough trouble, and if we stop our ears and turn our backs and walk away from that when we hear that happening, then we’re going to come to a point in our lives where we are then in tough straits and nobody is going to listen to us. Whatever you sow, you reap. So as we have compassion on others, then when we get in tough times, others will have compassion on us because God will see to it.
14 A gift in secret pacifies anger: and a reward in the bosom strong wrath.
That’s not talking about the conduct that Christians ought to practice or follow. That’s simply talking about the way society is. That’s talking about how man deals with man. It’s not a good thing. But you know that it happens all the time at all levels of our society all around the world.
A better translation is: “A gift in secret pacifies anger, and a bribe behind the back pacifies strong wrath.” The mafia practice this where, you know, you can buy them off and they’ll leave you alone for a while. In judicial circles, sometimes officials in places of power and positions of power can be bribed and bought off. Traffic policemen sometimes can be bribed and bought off not to give a ticket. Our society is corrupt. This is Satan’s world. This is not God’s world.
And so verse 14 talks about common practice in our society in terms of how business is done, so to speak. A gift in secret can calm down anger and it might mean that somebody doesn’t do something bad to you for a while. But when they get ready to want more, they’ll come back and threaten again.
A bribe behind the back can appease strong wrath for a while. But it won’t solve it and settle it because when you start bribing to solve a problem, you’ll have to keep on bribing and solve even bigger problems, and then finally, you got nothing else to bribe and then the problem overwhelms you.
The way to handle all this is do the right thing. Look to God, serve Him, and that settles it. Not managing it and bargaining with someone about it and using human reasoning to solve it and leaving God out of the picture. That simply does not work.
We’ll stop there in verse 14 and start the next Bible Study there in Proverbs 21:15.
This is Charles Bryce with the Enduring Church of God.