Proverbs 13:5-6, Good and Evil in Stark Profile!

June 29, Proverbs 13:5-6

Eccl. 3:1-11; 2 Cor. 5:17-21 “That he may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good” (Isa. 7:15).

Good and Evil in Stark Profile!

Today’s verses encapsulate the stark contrast between how the righteous and the wicked act and live. Not one can call back a lost moment, much less a lost life! We would do well to heed this word of advice from an old sage, “Live so in time as thou would wish to live in eternity.” How are you living your life? Life in itself is neither good nor evil. It is man, sinner or saved, who makes it so.

1. A Righteousness that Attracts: He hates lying (13:5a). Literally, he hates (one) word of falsehood. a. Repulsed by Graft! There is an instinctive repulsion to lies. Bridges points out that it is not that a righteous person never lies (1 Jn. 1:7-10). David lied, yet cried: I hate and abhor lying, and he prayed earnestly to have it removed far from him (Ps. 119:29, 163). The child of God says: What I hate, that I do! But he also testifies, I delight in the law of God after the inward man. He still wrestles against the remnants of sin within, but wrestle he must and does, and final victory is assured through Jesus Christ (Rm. 7:15-25). b. Restrained by Grace! His Righteousness keeps him that is upright in the way (13:6a). A saved person seeks always to live in conformity to the mind of God. There is a rooted and reigning principle of grace within to which he cannot be untrue without heartfelt regret (1 Jn. 3:7-10). His righteousness preserves right living, because he is girded with truth and guarded with the Breastplate of righteousness (Eph. 6:14). It is like a fortress around about him protecting him. Thus he stands on secure ground. Praise God, he has a new life within that keeps him (1 Thes. 5:19-24).

2. A Wickedness that Revolts: He is loathsome, shameful, and perverted. How’s that for a start? The wicked man is loathsome (13:5b). a. He Stinks! That’s the meaning of loathsome! Remember the river Nile and the dead fish (Ex. 7:18), and the forbidden manna (Ex. 16:21) that stank. It’s the same word (Gen. 34:30, Isa. 50:2)! The liar is odious, unlovely and unlovable. He attracts none and revolts all. He causes everyone near him to smell his stink! Terrible is the effect of this wicked person on family and community! He is hideous to men and angles! b. He Shames! He comes to shame (13:5b). He both displays shame and provokes shame. “Sin and shame came into the world together, and they are fit companions.” That man is lost indeed who is lost to shame. He doesn’t blush when showing his face. His mask drops off and exposes him for what he is (Ps. 35:4; 71:24). He brings shame on himself and others. c. He Sinks! Wickedness overthrows, subverts the sinner (13:6). He is the victim of his own wickedness, and the author of his own ruin (Dn. 12:2). Let him not blame any other but himself. He has built on the shallow sands of fiction, and will be swept away to his inevitable doom when the floods come (2 Chr. 28:23), and great will be the fall thereof (Matt. 7:27).

Thought: Remember the shame of sin when tempted by the sweet of sin.

Prayer: Oh! that I may hate sin and love righteousness.