Early Too Late

Proverbs 1:28 (KJV) Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me:

The KJV use of “early” here gives the totally wrong impression.  The idea is solid but the context is ignored.  This sounds like God is ignoring a sincere seeker.  No.  The context here is that we have one of those fox hole Christians who has been spitting in God’s face for ages and when they are going over the edge of the precipice they suddenly get religion.

God is pointing out to us that He does not play games.  He will give each of us all the time we need for a sincere response.  There will come a day when it is too late.  Picture the hundreds of years that Israel partied and enjoyed the world before the Babylonians showed up.

So?  God is sincere when we are sincere.  Again I say, He does not play games.  

Don’t Waste Your Sympathy

Proverbs 21:10 (BES) The soul of the ungodly shall not be pitied by any man.

This is an interesting translation.  As often happens when I look at the LXX, I wonder if it’s interpretation more than translation, but not being an expert in the Hebrew or the Greek I really don’t know.

I think there is a good point for us here though.  We go through sharing prayer request during Sunday school and on Wednesday evening.  There’s a certain class of prayer request that I don’t know how to deal with.  I don’t know the people asking well enough to dig deeper.  My big question is when they share a need for prayer for someone I’ve never met, where are they spiritually?  It seems that we’re getting more and more requests for young people with cancers and problems that we’ve never heard of it before.  I keep wondering and wanting to ask, “did they take the vaccine?”

There is a real sense in which at this point it doesn’t matter.  It would just be my curiosity.  One of the things that we don’t like to admit is that there are consequences for our behavior and having a group of believers at church pray for your recovery does not cancel decades of debauchery.  I recognize that as being judgmental and so I hold my fire and wish for the best.

So?  What’s that verse about?  Praying for those who despitefully use you?  It’s not our place to judge and it wouldn’t do any good if we did.  At the same time we need to realize that there are consequences both positive and negative or decisions.  

Telling God What to Do

(Psa 75:7 KJV)  But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another.

(Proverbs 28 also read)

Serious Christians would agree with this statement, at least on the surface.  Underneath they begin to waffle a bit.  This is usually done by stuffing God into the box of their theological system.

You have some systems that read this and have a glory fest.  They point out the sovereignty of God and how He predestines whom shall be saved.  Usually they include themselves on that list but say it is a mystery how God chooses whom He will save.  They might quote this verse as verification but they are making an assumption.  While it gives God the power and position of Judge it overlooks the fact that judging involves justice, not just mercy.  The fact that we all deserve hell and can’t earn our salvation does not mean that God does not look for certain attitudes or applications in order to make His judgement.  There is a big difference between a God who says, “I see the desire of your heart and will honor it” and a God who closes His eyes and says, “Eeny, meeny, miny moe...”

The second distortion is just the opposite.  They would claim since God is love that none will really be put down.

So?  Develop your theology by reading the whole scripture and letting God be God. 

Unsavory Options

Proverbs 21:7 (KJV) The robbery of the wicked shall destroy them; because they refuse to do judgment.

Life often puts us in situations where we must choose.  Those choices determine our path.  Often we are faced with what we don’t like.  It brings no joy.  How do we respond?

Think about how this is being played out today.  We see incomprehensible graft and fraud going on in government circles.  If we can believe the reports, and that is never a sure thing, then much of the misery and scarcity in our life is because of people in power abusing that power.

We also see violence being the default of certain elements of society.  We have been taught that violence is not the answer and we abide by that.  The wicked are always willing to resort to physical attacks if they don’t get their own way.  That is part of what defines them as evil.  We are called to justice, what the KJV labels as “judgement.”

So?  There may be times when we are compelled by justice to use force but we are not allowed to do so for our own personal gain.  Leave that to the wicked.  

Retribution

Psalm 143:12 (KJV) And of thy mercy cut off mine enemies, and destroy all them that afflict my soul: for I am thy servant.

(Proverbs 19 also read)

As I write, our church is going through one of those times caused by a carnal minority.  It remains to be seen how it will work out.  Of course the question to start with is aimed at ourselves instead of the ones who disagree with us.  It is so easy to be the carnal one if we are not constantly seeking God’s face.

But here, in the last verse of this chapter, the tide starts to recede and David calls for what he sees as a solution.  He calls for the other side to be “cut off” and for God to “destroy” them.  It is not clear whom he is talking about or what exactly they have done but he is still calling the wrath of God down on them.

Is David out of line?  Is this a justified response to persecution?  I am not ready to make a statement of doctrine on this but both options are on the table.

So?  It could well be that there are times to call down the wrath of God.  I am not sure He will respond the way we want but we need to be aware that a smile is not always the response demanded. 

Wake Up Reading

Psalm 82:2 (KJV) How long will ye judge unjustly, and accept the persons of the wicked? Selah.

My first reading of this chapter had me pausing here and asking if this writer were accusing God of being unjust.  I had to read the entire Psalm before I finally realized, on looking back, that this was God talking to people who were in charge of judging wisely.

Leaders who suck the life blood out of people are not a new phenomenon.  We tend to be locked into our own daily lives and forget that history has a witness of this kind of thing.  Does God approve?  Of course, not.  It is not particularly comforting when I see things falling apart, but I do believe that in the end, God will make these people pay for their arrogance and self-centeredness.

So?  We need to pray for our leaders.  We need to pray for their salvation.  We need to pray for their repentance.  God will take care of the punishment.  That is on Him.  

Foundations of Justice

Proverbs 29:26 (KJV) Many seek the ruler's favour; but every  man's judgment cometh from the LORD.

There is a reason why social justice will never bring about social justice.  It’s based on the favor of the ruling class.  It constantly changes in its definition.  It has absolutely nothing to do with justice, according to standards that matter.

The culture or society that even begins to come close to having real justice, will do so because at the root of their decisions, standards, laws and procedures is the idea of God’s justice.  God’s justice does not fluctuate with every wind of change.  It does not get more fluid in hot temperatures.  It is not become unresponsive when things get frigid.  God’s justice is above all of that.

So?  What are your plans for today?  What do you think you’re going to do tomorrow?  What will be the basis of the decisions you make?  Be sure that it is based upon the judgment of God, and not on the most recent headline on the Internet.  

Effort and Depression

Proverbs 10:4 (KJV) He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand: but the hand of the diligent maketh rich.

This seems like such a simple statement.  It is.  Too simple.  We need to dig a little deeper and look a little wider to find the full council of God on this.  This is flushed out by this complementary passage.

Proverbs 13:23 (NASB95) Abundant food is in the fallow ground of the poor, But it is swept away by injustice.

The Bible is clear that hard work makes us better off than being lazy.  It is also clear that there are people in power who can corrupt the system and make it impossible for us to get ahead.

So?  If you are a warrior for justice as defined by righteousness then you are on God’s side.  Yes, God does take sides.  If you are a social justice warrior, pushing your agenda then you are one of those who is sweeping others away with injustice.

Breaking Arms

Psalms 10:15 (KJV) Break thou the arm of the wicked and the evil man: seek out his wickedness till thou find none.

(Proverbs 21 also read)

The title given this section of scripture by the editors is “Prayer for the overthrow of the wicked.”  I understand that is not in the actual text, but just a summary offered by some mysterious editor.  But it does summarize the Psalm pretty well.  When you get down to verse 15 you get this interesting request.

While it’s true that we are not supposed to wish tragedy on our enemies, that advice, which is given other places in Psalms and Proverbs, seems to be overlooked.  I would guess that this means that it’s OK for us to pray for heaps of coal to be dumped on the heads of the wicked.

So?  Don’t let this get you to walk away from living a righteous life, or examining your own self, but as you pray and you see people that are obviously wicked and living in defiance of God, it would seem to be OK to call upon God to deal with them in physical ways. 

Rock Wisdom

Proverbs 20:10 (KJV) Divers weights, and divers measures, both of them are alike abomination to the LORD.

You find in the margin of some translations the explanation that when Proverbs here talks about different weights, it is talking about stones, or rocks.  Picture a balance beam scale where you put the bananas on one side, and a rock weighing 12 ounces on the other.  Then the person would pay for 12 ounces of bananas.

A literal translation of this is a rock and a rock. The application is that the dishonest merchant will have two sets of rocks under the table, and he will switch them for different customers or different transactions. Thus he will charge over for one and under for another. The rocks look the same to the casual observer, but the results are different.

Where I’m going with this is to give Christians some insight into our social mores.  We have things like affirmative action, as it used to be called.  We do have different ways of saying it, such as multiculturalism and DEI and so forth.  What we end up doing is using different measurements for different people based on whether we are buying or selling so to speak.  The point here is that this is not acceptable for Christians.

So?  If you are in the habit of evaluating people based on the measurements that your woke friends like then you are acting in a way that God calls an abomination.  Reverse discrimination is still discrimination.  Different measures for the same product is still an abomination.  Think about it because you live your life today. 

Modifiers

(Pro 18:5 KJV)  It is not good to accept the person of the wicked, to overthrow the righteous in judgment.

We need to be careful when we read the translations of more modern times.  I realize that Moffett is not really modern because it comes from the early 1900s, but compared to the King James and Geneva Bible, it is modern.  I guess it would be better to say to be careful of people who tend to paraphrase and look for cool ways of saying things.

We run into that problem in this verse with Moffett. He starts this verse off this way,

“It is not fair to favor the guilty,”

At first, I thought that sounded pretty good, but then I did a little bit of digging.  I did a search in my Bible software on the word “fair”.  It seems that the word is used in the King James only to refer to being attractive or good looking.  I may have missed a place somewhere but that seems to be what’s going on.  The concept of being fair in the sense of balance is not a Biblical concept.   We run into it a lot in our political discussions and with people who want to manipulate our system.  We might run into it in our discussions of theology, or not.

God is not concerned about being fair as we have defined it.  He is concerned about justice, truth, righteousness, and a host of other Biblical concepts rooted in His character.

So?  Make sure that you understand the meaning of words in the Bible when you try to apply them to the teachings of the Bible. 

Stone Justice

(Pro 20:10 KJV)  Divers weights, and divers measures, both of them are alike abomination to the LORD.

As I read this today I reflected on what I see happening in our judicial system.  I see judges and district attorneys who have a political agenda that must be achieved no matter how the law is twisted the the process perverted.  People accused of murder and other violent crimes are released with little penalty.  People who anger the elites with what would be minor infractions spend months and years in jail.  This is a case of “divers weights”.  The literal translation would be a “stone and a stone”.  It implies that the merchant has two different sets of weights for the balance beam scale.   

So?  As Christians we must stand up for the rule of law.  The artistic depiction of Justice has her blindfolded.  The balance on the scale is a matter of physics.  Ours is a matter of divine truth.  Keep in mind it goes both ways.  Don’t start doing it their way. 

Is That a Promise or a Threat

(Pro 22:23 KJV)  For the LORD will plead their cause, and spoil the soul of those that spoiled them.

As I read this verse, Hamas is again guilty of murdering Israeli women and children.  The enemies of God are attacking the people chosen by God.  That is not to say that at this day and time the people living in Israel are great examples of living righteous lives or even acknowledging the Almighty, but they are still descendants of David and Solomon who wrote this verse.  As such, I would see reason to be concerned if I were a Muslim associated with the jihad.  

The promise of God is a bit stronger than the NASB’s “take the life”.  The KJV comes closer with “spoil (6906) the “soul” (5315) [nephesh].  The NASB margin is the most literal.  It says, “rob the soul”.  I think of a Dracula moment where the monster sucks the blood out of the victim.  There are so many ways you could take this but rest assured of two things:  It is not good, it is a promise.

So?  We could spiritualize and talk about people attacking the church but just be satisfied with the knowledge that God is watching and the outcome will not be pleasant for those who try to destroy God’s people. 

Hang in There

(Pro 29:26 KJV)  Many seek the ruler's favour; but every man's judgment cometh from the LORD.

I have been spending a lot of time studying Micah 6:8. 

(Mic 6:8 KJV)  He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?

In Micah God calls on us to do “justly” (4941) which is the same word used here.  This is a good balance for Micah.  Although we are called to go out and act in a just manner we are reminded that the ultimate results are up to God.

People we deal with are not interested in justice.  They often will not want anything to do with it.  We will feel frustrated and defeated.  We will wonder why we keep trying.  Because He said so.

So?  Hang in there.  We are in this for the long haul.  One of the frustrating truths we must deal with is that many questions will only be answered in eternity, but they will be answered. 

The Defense Rests

(Pro 21:15 KJV)  It is joy to the just to do judgment: but destruction shall be to the workers of iniquity.

Recently I reread a book by Massad Ayoob dealing with self defense.  In many states it is assumed that you will be charged with a crime no matter how obvious it was that you were simply defending yourself.  In addressing the court case he said that he encouraged innocent defendants to take the stand.  He said that many lawyers advise against it and he said the reason for that is they are used to dealing with clients that are guilty and if you put them on the stand they will either confess or lie.  If they lie he says a good prosecutor can easily trip them up because they can’t keep their lies straight.  He maintains that if you are innocent that can’t happen.  He obviously has confidence in the judicial system.

Look at the two types of people in this verse.  The one who lives a righteous life should have nothing to fear from justice.  The evil have everything to fear.  It makes a difference in how we live life.

So?  Live in such a way that you don’t need to fear justice.  Of course there are the places in the New Testament where it says we will be persecuted for being on the side of Jesus, but that is a different issue. 

Peaceful Violence

(Pro 21:7 KJV)  The robbery of the wicked shall destroy them; because they refuse to do judgment.

Notice that “robbery” (violence NASB) (7701) and a lack of “justice” (4941) are linked.  We would automatically think of coercion and strong arming as violent acts and we would be right.  What we also need to understand is that violence does not necessarily need to be violent.

The definition of violence has the word “ruin” and the different translations in the NASB include “destroy”.  There are many ways to destroy without attacking in the classical way.  Historically many cities have been brought down by hunger or thirst.  Another tactic that did not involve swords or guns was disease.  A lack of justice can eat away at the foundations of a society as much as a rash of gunfire.  The problem we face is the way our culture has redefined justice and made it a tool of discrimination.

So?  Don’t fall for the political manipulation of such vital concepts as justice, love, marriage or any of the many other things that are being redefined.  Justice that preserves a society is based on the standards of God and not the whims of men. 

Relax in Obedience

(Pro 24:19 KJV) Fret not thyself because of evil men, neither be thou envious at the wicked;

A recent headline link told me that a man wearing a dress and claiming to identify as a woman, who has been appointed as Assistant Secretary of Health, is a proponent of giving children access to drugs and operations that will allow them to change their sex.  I try to avoid politics on this blog but this is not politics, this is a moral outrage.  I keep asking myself how to respond to this kind of thing and as I read Proverbs this morning this verse jumped out at me, along with verse 22,

(Pro 24:22 KJV) For their calamity shall rise suddenly; and who knoweth the ruin of them both?

We are to call for justice and stand up for morality.  The point here is that we are not to get consumed with “fret”ing (2734).  The word has the idea of being burned up with passion over the evil we see around us.  We can get so wrought up about what is wrong with society that we become part of the problem.

So?  Be concerned.  Speak out.  Fret not.  The word is that these people will be brought down.  It is not specific about how or when just definite about it happening.  We are going through dark times.  We must insist on walking and living in the light. 

Where Justice Starts

(Pro 21:3 KJV) To do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice.

It is easy to play church.  It is possible to keep the commandments in public.  Patriotism and citizenship are easy to pantomime.  Going through the motions can become empty habit.  I think most people can agree with the basic idea even if they are afraid the principles might be applied to them.  We are used to it in our daily lives but we usually assume that the one who disagrees with us is the guilty party.

We need to remind ourselves that the standards here are based on God’s eternal word which is rooted in His eternal character.  Our public figures toss around words like “justice” but I urge you to be aware that they do not mean what God means by the word.  I repeat myself.  I will repeat myself again because it is so easy for us to fall under the spell of the talking heads.

So?  You can’t know what is true unless you know the truth.  It must start in your Bible, not in your commentaries, daily devotional books, sermons or Sunday School Classes.  By the time you come to those potential sources of learning you should know enough to filter out the dross.

Minorities and Salt

(Pro 20:8 KJV) A king that sitteth in the throne of judgment scattereth away all evil with his eyes.

When you consider the compromised ethics of most politicians today I am almost ready to go back to the days of having a “king” (4428).  Almost, but not quite.  Just as politicians are divided up between the moral and the corrupt, the competent and the hopeless, the informed and the clueless, so also kings come in all flavors.  What this reminds us of is that people in authority have a responsibility to stand up for “justice” (1779), not for their own agendas.

One of the dangers we live with in our form of government is that people vote their pocketbooks and not justice.  The reason for that is history has always had a majority of people who reject the standards of God.  Remember Jesus’ words about the narrow and wide gates.  At the same time, we are to be the voice and example of righteousness.

So?  Speak up.  Live by the Book.  Be salt. 

Justice or Mush

(Pro 29:4 KJV) The king by judgment establisheth the land: but he that receiveth gifts overthroweth it.

As we move into the new year it is a good time to stop and think about “justice” (4941).  It is one of the mass of words that the forces positioned against God are trying to redefine.  Notice the difference between the KJV, “judgement” and NASB.  The two English words are entwined in the Hebrew.  I would analyze it as the impartial application of the rule of law.  It starts with a concept the humanists reject, absolute right and wrong.  Those standards are established by God from the foundation of the earth.  They are not a result of this weeks polls among academics.  In justice there is also one law for all.  There are not different rules based on gender, race or class.  

The only way we will have a stable, safe nation to live in is if we insist on the Biblical meaning of justice and reject the constantly manipulated mush of the elites.

So?  You can’t know what is right if you don’t read the Book.  Get in the habit.