The wicked flee though no one pursues,
but the righteous are as bold as a lion.
2 When a country is rebellious, it has many rulers,
but a ruler with discernment and knowledge maintains order.
3 A ruler who oppresses the poor
is like a driving rain that leaves no crops.
4 Those who forsake instruction praise the wicked,
but those who heed it resist them.
5 Evildoers do not understand what is right,
but those who seek the Lord understand it fully.
These first five verses of Proverbs 28 give us a comparison between the wicked and the righteous, the corrupt and the honest, the bad and the good. To which group to you belong? Too often we tend to divide ourselves into groups. Over time and situations, our groups become opposing and opposites. Growing up in North Carolina where great college basketball happens, I would cheer for numerous local teams, such as Wake, NC State, and of course UNC, (notice I did not include Duke.) When one of these teams would square off against my UNC Tarheels, we would find ourselves on opposing sides. Just as we can become divided over our sports teams, we can also divide ourselves over other competing groups. We tend to label the other group as bad and our group as good. However, not always the good groups are all good and the bad groups are all bad. We should think about our groups, our teams, and the reasons we are at opposing sides, we should examine closely the walls built that separate our groups.
Proverbs 28 does encourage us to be a part on one particular group, the good, the honest, the righteous. We need to strive to first and foremost make this group our main priority. In Eugene Peterson’s translation of these Proverbs from, The Message, we read “the wicked are edgy, with guilt, ready to run off even when no one’s after them,” but the “honest people are relaxed and confident, bold as lions.” Lions are without fear…if we live right; good, honest lives we have nothing to fear. Peterson writes in verse 2, “when a country is in chaos, everybody has a plan to fix it—but it takes a leader of real understanding to straighten things out.” Everybody has their opinion on how to solve all the world’s problems, but it takes real understanding to know what is right, good, honest. The real understanding and knowledge the writer of Proverbs is referring to is God’s law. Peterson in verse 4 writes, “if you desert God’s law, you’re free to embrace depravity; if you love God’s law, you fight for it tooth and nail.” To have the real understanding needed to know the direction to walk, lead, live a good, honest, and righteous life is to love and follow God’s law. To which group do we belong, the group that deserts God’s law, or the one that loves and follows God’s law. There are times when we struggle and turn away from God and His instructions for our lives. However, God extends to us grace and mercy when we walk in the wrong direction. May we strive to follow God’s law and have the understanding to know when we are heading in the wrong direction so we may turn back to God.
Matt