Greetings everyone. Let’s turn to Proverbs 28:14 and pick up where we left off last time.
14 Happy is the man that fears always: but he that hardens his heart shall fall into mischief.
In other words, it’s talking about our relationship with God. We are to stand in awe of God. We’re to have a healthy fear. Not a type of terror, that’s not it. But a reverent kind of attitude—one that just stands in awe of the great God, one who worships Him. And if we have that, we’re going to be happy because that’s going to lead us to obey God, and then that’s going to lead us into living life the right way—life that brings blessings and happiness and peace. And so standing in awe of God leads to obeying Him which leads to blessings. That’s the cycle that a Christian wants to follow.
14 —but he that hardens his heart shall fall into mischief.
Fall into calamity. In other words, we just dig in our heels. We want our own way. We pick and choose what we obey and what we don’t obey. We begin to get hardened in that position and our attitudes set up like cement sets up. Then instead of being blessed and instead of being happy, we’re going to fall into trouble and calamity. That’s not the way we want to go, and Solomon inspired by God warns us about that.
15 As a roaring lion, and a ranging—
or charging
15 —bear; so is a—
ruler or a
15 —wicked ruler over the poor people.
They’ve got no defense. They can’t stand up to him. He’s in the position of power and not only that, he’s a wicked person. What a miserable state to be in when the poor people are ruled by a wicked individual. It’s just like being subjected to a roaring lion and a charging bear. The people suffer tremendously and are at his mercy. And oftentimes God intervenes and helps them, especially when they cry out for His help and cry out for His interventions.
So we need to ask God to send His kingdom to this earth and Jesus Christ as King of kings and Lord of lords, and then this entire earth will change as a result of having the Prince of peace in charge instead of corrupt, wicked rulers that are in charge now—and most especially Satan the devil, who is the god of this world. All of us suffer as a result of that, and especially spiritually poor and physically poor people suffer.
16 The prince that wants understanding—
or lacks understanding
16 —is also a great oppressor:
That’s right. He just looks out for himself and his buddies and his cronies and his family, and oppresses others. He keeps and stays rich on the backs of the vast majority and makes them suffer as a result of that. One of the most terrible things to understand and see about this world today is the lack of leadership, the corrupt leadership, the wicked leadership that’s in charge. That’s not saying that we ought to overthrow them or try to overthrow them. It is to say that we pray, “Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done on this earth as it is in heaven.”
We look for the Kingdom of God to be on this earth, so that once and for all we’ll have just leadership and we will have a wonderful world to live in instead of unjust leadership and the misery and suffering and dying in our society today and among the population of this globe, to one degree or the other, that’s the way it is.
16 The prince that wants understanding is also a great oppressor: but he that hates covetousness shall prolong his days.
Someone who is not selfish, someone who is not self–centered, someone who is not plundering the people and plundering the wealth of the nation will be blessed; and therefore he will prolong his reign because the people will back him up, and he’ll prolong his days because he’ll be blessed of God. That’s individually as well. It’s not just a matter of referring to kings and nations. It’s referring to people and families and Christians. The principles are there.
17 A man that does violence to the blood of any person shall flee to the pit; let no man help him.
God does not want us to be violent. As Christians, we are to return good for evil. It’s not that we become throw rugs. But this matter of violence, have you noticed how violence is permeating sports, permeating movies, permeating television? This attitude of violence is just everywhere in our society today, and it was prophesied to be that way.
Once again, let’s turn to a cross reference here. Over here in II Timothy, you read about what our society would be like in the last days, and violence is one of the things that we find prophesied. II Timothy 3:1:
1 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.
2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
3 Without natural affection,—
We don’t care about other people.
3 —trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce,—
or violent, brutal,
3 —despisers of those that are good,
4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
Fierce here is better translated brutal, and that’s what we see in our society today. You can watch a hockey game and it gets brutal. It doesn’t matter about the other players. Hit them, trip them, hack them and injure them and get them out of the game so you can win and get more money because you won, and the crowd just goes wild. That’s the attitude permeating our society today wherever you look.
Look at all the wars that are going on. But not just wars, look at what happens in our streets. Look at what happens to families where brutality is meted out on other members of families. Abuse and all kinds of violent relationships, and being cruel and brutal to others in those relationships even among neighbors, etc. It’s not everywhere, not by everybody, but it’s in too many places and by too many people. And God condemns that right here in verse 17.
Our justice system doesn’t really mete out justice in answer to violence. But God says that He will mete out justice.
17 A man that does violence to the blood of any person shall flee to the pit;—
He’s going to fall into his own bed which he has made. He’s made his bed. He’ll have to lie in it, and he’ll have to suffer as a result of it. And He says here, “Don’t go out of your way to help that individual, he’ll just hurt you.” You want to help people who help themselves. You want to help people who will appreciate the help and do something with it. But don’t waste your time on people who just will not change, who will not respond, who will not even recognize or appreciate the help you’re giving them. And if they’re violent, you better be careful because they could turn on you. That’s the warning.
18 Whoso walks uprightly shall be delivered: but he that is perverse in his ways shall fall at once.
Perverse, twisted, weird, abnormal, rebellious, not obedient, does not want to do the right thing shall fall at once. In other words, not rise again. Sometimes it happens suddenly, sometimes not. But once they fall, they’re down and they’re not going to rise again. They’re just going to suffer in the consequences of their perversity, and we don’t want to be around them when they fall because they could pull us down with them.
Don’t ever think that evil will go unpunished. Evil will be punished. And don’t ever think that righteousness will go unblessed. Righteousness will be blessed. Evil will be punished, and those that are perverse will fall and they’ll fall with a thud and they won’t be able to get up again until they repent and change. They will just be crushed because of the consequences of their evil actions and unless they change, that’s the end of them.
19 He that tills his land shall have plenty of bread: but he that follows after vain persons shall have poverty enough.
So often, people just want things to go well and not have to do anything themselves. Now, that’s not how God has ordered the universe. That’s not how He has set up creation. The way God has created all things, He has based His creation on laws. And human life functions within laws. And when we keep those laws, we’re blessed. When we break those laws, we’re punished. If we want bread, we need to work. If a man won’t work, he shouldn’t eat. If we want things to go well, we’ve got to do well, you know. If we want to be heard, then we’ve got to hear. There’s an old saying, “He who will not hear does not deserve to be heard.” We want others to listen to us, but we don’t want to listen to them. We’ve got to learn to listen if we want someone else to listen. If we will not hear, then why should we expect to be heard? And if we will not work, why should we expect to have things that we need provided?
And that’s all it’s saying here. If you want bread, carry out your responsibility. Do your job. Plow your field. Be on time. Work hard while you’re there. And then the blessings will come, and then the food will come, and then you’ll be able to provide for your home. But this gravy train mentality where, “I don’t want to do anything, but I expect everything to come.” It doesn’t work that way because that breaks the laws by which God has ordered life and the universe to function and operate within.
19 He that tills his land shall have plenty of bread: but he that follows after vain persons—
or frivolous things—wasting time, wasting energy, wasting money
19 —shall have poverty enough.
It’ll come every time inevitably.20 A faithful man shall abound with blessings:—
Why? Because he’s faithful and he’s keeping the law, and God will bless it. It triggers a result, a consequence, and what’s the consequence of being faithful and diligent? Blessings.
20 —but he that makes haste to be rich shall not be innocent.
Shall not go unpunished. In other words, their big desire in life is to be wealthy, to be rich. So often people say, “I want to be a millionaire and I’m going to be a millionaire. No matter what it takes, I’m going to be a millionaire.” So they’ll just start devoting every ounce of their energy and every minute of their time to be rich, and the quicker the better.
Well, they overlook certain principles and they break certain laws and it’s going to backfire on them. We ought not set out to be rich. We ought to set out to obey God, and let Him take care of the wealth and how much of it, and be patient. It doesn’t have to happen all at once. Then things will go better. But we push it and try to go too fast and for the wrong reason and with the wrong attitude and motive, we’re not going to get by with it. It’s not going to work out. So we need to take this warning here in verse 20.
21 To have respect of persons is not good: for for a piece of bread that man will transgress.
You know, God tells us that partiality, or anything having to do with showing favoritism, is actually sin. I just want to quickly turn over here, just happened to think about it, over here in James 2.
James 2:9
9 —if you have respect to persons,—
or if you show partiality,
9 —you commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors.
You see, playing favorites, having a teacher’s pet, showing partiality, any vestige of racism, any kind of inequity meted out to others is sin. God is not a respecter of persons. He loves us all the same. We’re all His children. We’re all equal in His sight. He treats us all with the same approach, the same love, the same requirements, and we better treat others that way.
But to show partiality to anybody is not good. And when you see somebody doing that, you know what can happen? They can easily be swayed; they can be manipulated because that’s politics. And so when you get involved in politics, you set yourself up to be manipulated, to be orchestrated, to be maneuvered.
First of all, let’s say a judge who shows partiality. He might do that for a rather expensive bribe, but he gets used to this bribe business. It’s kind of good. So now the bribe can be less. And finally just a piece of bread is all it’ll take for him to break the law and to show partiality. The corruptness sets in, and he’ll settle for less and less and still be unjust and still show partiality to an individual or to a situation.
Well, it’s not the right thing to do and it’s not something that God is pleased with and so He warns us against it, and He tells us we better not be doing that.
You know, the natural man fears that he will be in trouble if he gives. The natural man feels like, “Well, you’ve got to get yours while the getting is good.” But the actual fact of the matter is, it’s more blessed to give than receive.
God blesses an attitude of giving. God blesses actions of giving, and so when we are fair and we show justice and we give the benefit of the doubt, and let’s get the facts and let’s not show partiality and let’s not have this get attitude of, “Well, if I show partiality, I’ll get something.” Let’s not do that because God won’t bless that. But rather, let’s give to others and give justice to others and give the same love and respect to others, and God will bless it.
22 He that hastes to be rich has an evil eye, and considers not that poverty shall come upon him.
God does bless us, and sometimes there are people who obey God and actually end up being wealthy. But if they want it for the wrong reason and they want it too quickly and they get all wrapped up in it, you can be sure that there’s going to be evil found in that situation and in that person. And that evil will bring poverty as a result of breaking God’s law, even though it looks like poverty would never hit this person.
I mean, they are so many rich people throughout history who have found out that poverty will set in. No matter how high they go, they can still fall with a thud. And no matter how rich they get, they can still end up in poverty if they become evil and if they become corrupt. It may take a while or it may not take a while, but it will come eventually and inevitably.
23 He that rebukes a man afterwards shall find more favor than he that flatters with the tongue.
You know, a legitimate, genuine, sincere compliment, that’s encouraging. And give honor to whom honor is due. That’s showing love. That’s different to someone who flatters.
When a person flatters, they have an ulterior motive. There’s a catch, there are strings attached, they want something, they’re setting you up, they’re pouring it on too much, they’re just piling it on, thick as butter. And if you ever get to the point to where you love to be flattered, you’re setting yourself up to be taken advantage of. And those who are doing the flattering also will be in trouble because they’re doing the wrong thing and for the wrong reason.
What He says here in verse 23 is: It might be tough, it might be hard, and at first it might create tension, but he that rebukes or corrects a man for the right thing, in the right way, at the right time, in the right attitude, out of love
23 —afterwards shall find more favor than he that—Ignores that or lies about that or pretends it’s not true and just flatters the person instead of telling him the truth. You know what happens? It might take a while, but once the person that you have pointed the fault out to or corrected, legitimately and for the right reasons—sincerely—once that person sees that you were right and that was a good thing and he benefits from it, even though it hurt at the time, he will be thankful you did it afterward. And you will have much more favor with him than if you lied to him or didn’t tell him anything or just heaped flattery on him and it turns out not to be true. And therefore he ends up, up a box canyon or over the cliff or in trouble because you flattered him instead of telling him the truth—“Oh, go that way. You look great. It’ll work out fine. If that’s what you want to do, do it.” Instead of saying, “Don’t go that way. It won’t work out. You’ll be in trouble. You’re going to suffer for it. It’s not the right thing to do.” Even though he might have resented it, later he’ll thank you because you were right. But if you flattered him, then he won’t thank you, then he won’t like you, then he won’t appreciate it. That will not produce or generate a good result.
But being honest, even if it means correcting somebody—that will. And it may generate a good result right away or it may do it later, but either way, you’re going to find favor because you’re honest and you loved him or her enough to tell him the truth rather than flattering him.
24 Whoso robs his father or his mother, and says, It is no transgression; the same is the companion of a destroyer.
I think in some ways that’s one of the worse sins, it’s when people abuse their parents. And that’s a silent epidemic in our country and around the world today. You talk about children being abused, which is hideous; and wives being abused, which is disgusting. But a growing silent epidemic in our society today is for grown children or teenage children, not all of them, but too many, abusing their father and mother, neglecting them or actually punching and hitting them or even robbing them. And it’s pointed out right here 3,000 years ago.
24 Whoso robs his father or his mother, and says, It is no transgression;—
“Well, they should have given it to me anyway. They owed it to me. Well, they didn’t have me in the will so I’ll get it another way.”
24 —the same is the companion of a destroyer.
And what do you think God thinks about children who destroy their parents? He doesn’t think very highly of them. In fact, He’s very angry with them and He will punish them severely. And He tells us to honor our father and mother. That’s what we better do, and then our father and mother will be happy and we’ll be blessed, and God will be pleased. Back to keeping the law once again.
25 He that is of a proud heart stirs up strife: but he that puts his trust in the Lord shall be made fat.
Or a better translation, shall prosper. Yes, you see people who are troublemakers. You see people who are so vain and arrogant and full of pride. They just like to gossip and stir up trouble and hurt people and pit people against one another and even create riots. That, once again, is going to incur a tremendous penalty because God is not pleased with an individual who does that.
25 —but he that puts his trust in the Lord—
Not in himself, but in God—shall prosper. But he that trusts himself,
25 —a proud heart stirs up strife:—
Causes trouble and suffers as a result of it.
26 He that trusts in his own heart is a fool: but whoso walks wisely, he shall be delivered.
We can’t trust other people and we can’t trust ourselves. We can trust God in other people, and we can trust Christ in us, but of and by ourselves, apart from God, we’re just human beings full of human nature and so is everybody else. So that’s not where we put our trust. We put our trust in God and that’s walking wisely, and that’s how we’ll be delivered.
Let’s go back to a proverb that we’ve already read, but let’s be reminded here. It’s over here in Proverbs 3:5:
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart; and lean not unto your own understanding.
6 In all your ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct your paths.
7 Be not wise in your own eyes: fear the Lord, and depart from evil.
8 It shall be health to your navel, and marrow to your bones.
Health to your body and refreshment to your body. So, that’s who we trust in, that’s who we lean on. Not on ourselves and not on others. We can fool ourselves. We can be sincere, but sincerely wrong. But God is never wrong. So back to Proverbs 28:26:
26 He that trusts in his own heart is a fool: but whoso walks wisely, he shall be delivered.
27 He that gives unto the poor shall not lack:—
Once again, he has it to give and the poor are trying to do the right thing. They’re trying to help themselves and they need the pump primed. They need a little push. They need a little lift. And we can do that, and therefore then we should do that, where we can and when we can, to the poor who will use it properly.
27 —but he that hides his eyes shall have many a curse.
Pretend, “Oh well, I’m not going to have anything to do with them.” They could have helped them, but, no, no, no. I don’t want to give anybody anything. They could have intervened and given them a little bit of a boost. No, they’re on their own. They mind their business, I mind mine. And we have it to give and they will use it properly. God is not pleased with that. Rather He’s pleased with this:
27 He that gives unto the poor shall not lack:—
It’ll all come back, and
27 —he that hides his eyes shall have many a curse.
God takes notice of that and He’s not pleased. Look how poor we are spiritually. Look how poor we have been, many of us, physically. What if God had hidden His eyes? He didn’t. He intervened and delivered us and blessed us. Well, if we think like He does, that’s what we’ll do.
I remember a practice. I remember reading about a king. This king was in power many years ago. His name was Alfonso, King of Sicily. He gave so much to so many people, and when asked what he kept for himself since he gave away so much, he said, “I keep what I give. The rest I do not count mine.”
Think about that. I give it away, but you know what, it ends up coming back so I actually end up keeping what I give away, and what I don’t give, I do not count mine. I consider it something I want to share with others. So, in other words, he had the right attitude. What I have has been given to me and so therefore it’s from God and I want to share it with others. And what I give away, I end up keeping anyway because it all comes back. And what I have left, I consider something God gave me so I’m going to give to God and give to others.
This man was not converted. He didn’t have the full understanding, but you know, he had an attitude of giving and of serving and of thinking of other people. And he was a very famous king that had a tremendous successful reign because he thought of his subjects, and he gave and gave and gave. And he was blessed and blessed and blessed because he set in motion the law of loving others, and it came back from others in love to him. And it came back in blessings to him.
Now, he didn't do it fully, and he’s not the best example. He’s a good example. The best example is found in the Bible. And the best example is Jesus Christ and God the Father. And that’s who we want to emulate. And believe you me, He tells us many places in the Bible, Christ does, give and it’ll come back. And He set the example of giving. He gave His own life after all for all of mankind. So think about that.
27 He that gives unto the poor shall not lack: but he that hides his eyes shall have many a curse.
28 When the wicked rise, men hide themselves: but when they perish, the righteous increase.
Leadership is important. Leadership is vital. Let’s pray that we will have good leadership in our homes, in our families, and in our congregations. And let’s especially pray that Jesus Christ will come back to this earth soon, establish the Kingdom of God and be the perfect leader for all of mankind.
We’ll stop there and begin the next time in Proverbs Chapter 29.
This is Charles Bryce with the Enduring Church of God.