Proverbs 28:1-11

Guilt is the parent of fear. The wicked man runs with no one chasing him — like the madman who does not flinch at a drawn sword but trembles at a rustling leaf — because the real pursuer is inside him: his own conscience, which is one end of a wire whose other end is fastened to the judgment seat of God. Cain went out from God's presence and was hunted ever after by every waving bush. A swift foot does not help a man who is fleeing from himself. But the righteous are "bold as a lion" — and mark why, because it is not native nerve: they are bold because they are strong in God, the fear of Him having drowned every other fear, so that they dare anything except to offend Him. Moses did not fear Pharaoh's wrath; Nehemiah said "Should such a man as I flee?"; Luther walked into Worms. And that boldness has only one source — a conscience purged by the blood of Jesus, which gives a man liberty "to enter into the holiest" (Hebrews 10:19). Get your sins under the blood, and you can look anything in the world in the eye.

When a nation is in rebellion against God, it is judged with a churn of rulers — instability, faction, one would-be leader after another; but one wise, understanding man at the helm can hold a land together and prolong its life. Behind the politics stands God, who uses even anarchy for His own purposes, and who alone gives a people the wise ruler that is His inestimable gift. (A nation must get knowledge before it can be blessed.) Pray for those in authority, and remember that the only King whose government never fails, and who never dies, is Christ.

There is no crueler oppressor than a poor man suddenly given power over other poor men — his new dignity turns his head, and he comes down on them like a flash-flood that beats the crops flat and leaves no food behind, where a gentle rain would have fed them. Set against him the One who, "though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor" (2 Corinthians 8:9), and was never ashamed of His poor brethren.

The two camps grade each other by each other instead of by God's law. Those who have abandoned the Word end up praising the wicked, putting flattering labels on sin — calling drunkenness good fellowship, greed thrift, and recklessness in sin "bravery." But those who keep the law cannot stay silent; they contend against the wickedness — not out of ill-will toward the persons, but out of love for the souls being destroyed. To hold neutrality in God's cause is treason. (And note: this contending is done as much by a holy life as by words — the quiet, obedient believer, the lonely praying widow, is armed by this verse with sword and spear; the most effective army of the saints is the quiet group that dream of nothing but obedience.)

The most brilliant scholar alive is a fool about judgment — moral right and wrong — if pride keeps him from seeking God; he is "ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth" (2 Timothy 3:7). But the humble man who seeks the LORD understands all he truly needs to — the things hidden from the wise and prudent are revealed unto babes (Matthew 11:25). And the way in is the same for the scholar and the simple: come as a sinner, not as a saint, seeking your fitness in Christ and not in yourself. If you cannot pray as you would, pray as you can.

An honest poor man is genuinely better off than a crooked rich one — more honorable, more useful, more happy. The rich man with two ways, pretending one road while walking another, is double-minded; who can trust him? But the world keeps getting this backwards: a rich sinner looks more respectable than a saint in rags, and so men labor to be rich rather than holy. Weigh men by their integrity, not their income.

A young man who keeps God's law is a wise son and a credit to his father; one who runs with a wild crowd brings shame on the home that raised him — for you can no more touch pitch and stay clean than keep company with bad men and not be defiled. Parents, this is why the early, godly training of chapter 22:6 matters so much; and young man, choose your company like your character depends on it, because it does.

The man who piles up wealth by cheating and extortion is, without knowing it, just a collector working for someone else — God will pass the hoard, in the end, into the hands of a man who will use it to pity the poor (Proverbs 13:22). God makes selfishness punish itself, and the harvest falls into better hands. So why claw after unjust gain, when your Father promises that if you seek first His kingdom, all these things shall be added to you (Matthew 6:33)?

Here is a sobering one. If a man deliberately stops his ears against God's Word — won't read it, won't heed it, won't obey it — then even his prayers become an abomination to God. There is great reason that God should refuse to hear the man who refuses to hear God. You cannot ignore Him six days and expect Him to jump when you call on the seventh; "why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?" (Luke 6:46). Does God trifle with man? He certainly will not let man trifle with Him. The deeper issue is the heart: prayer that wants God's gifts while rejecting His Word — and rejecting His Christ, in whose name alone any prayer is heard — is hollow at the core. Open your ear to His Word, and your prayer will find an open door.

The man who lures a good man into sin is doing the tempter's own work — and he will fall into the very pit he dug (think of Balaam). But the upright, even if they are led astray for a moment, have recovering mercy in store and shall come into possession of good things at the last. There is even a deep comfort here for the believer under attack: the worst the enemy can do only ends up blessing him; the very Devil, set against a saint, becomes a means of grace, for "all things work together for good to them that love God" (Romans 8:28).

A rich man is easily wise in his own eyes, because wealth surrounds him with flatterers, and flattery clouds the self-knowledge that is the very foundation of true wisdom. But a poor man with real understanding sees right through him, takes his measure to the bottom. A full purse is perfectly compatible with an empty head; wisdom is a gift from above that no amount of money can buy. The respect men pay to riches is really paid to the purse — a horse might as well be valued by the splendor of its saddle.