Proverbs 4:14-17 lays out the truth there are evil people around us. Due to the nature of what is being said, and my personal feelings, I am grateful to the Christian Law Association as well as Matthew Henry for helping me frame this devotional in a pointed but level headed manner. I also am very thankful for our church moderator who gave some very good feedback in the development of the thoughts of this blog as well.

Proverbs 4:14 clearly teaches we are not to enter the path of the wicked. Indeed there are evil and wicked people in every arena of life. We find it politically, in our White House, senate, and in many places in our House of representatives. We find it in our Judicial level. We find it in our educational levels from the youngest levels to the most advanced levels of education. We find it in our society. Even more sadly, this evil has found a place within the walls of the church!

In order to grasp what we are talking about, we must understand what evil and wickedness is. Wickedness is geared toward the individual. The wicked individual is the one who is guilty of doing, saying, behaving, acting, promoting, protecting, and defending that which is evil. Evil, is the work that is being done. We have found the word “wicked” before in our study of Proverbs, in Proverbs 2:22, as well as Proverbs 3:25, 33. Notice what these texts say about the wicked. Of course, they will have their day when it seems they are protected, and are able to do all they want with no repercussions. But that day is short lived. There is a God in Heaven who will bring and execute the most absolute judgment imaginable. None will be spared who are wicked. Then we see evil. As we said, evil is that which is being done. When we take the time to look at this word, we have found it in our study already. Notice what has been said in Proverbs: Proverbs 1:16, 33; 2:12, 14; 3:7, 29, 30. There is a huge amount of weight put on avoiding evil. It seems to avoid the wicked is a higher paramount. Why? It is this way because evil is something that is done against God, His nature, character, righteousness, holiness. It stands in absolute stark contrast to how God wants and EXPECTS all mankind to live. It is easier to avoid a wicked person than it is to avoid the evil. How? We all have a sin nature and that sin nature wars against the Spirit (Galatians 5:17; James 4:1; 1 Peter 2:11). Since we have this sin nature, while we are called to live apart from the sin (Romans 6:19), it is still hard to do so. We cannot escape or run from ourselves. However, the wicked one we can avoid. Therefore, the challenge is harder for the evil. Wickedness and Evil is around us and we can handle this in one of two ways.

First is to be angry at what has been said and carry on. There are many nuances of how this is handled by the individual, but it is still there. Please understand the depth of Proverbs 14:34. It is only in true righteousness that a nation and people are exalted. But this righteousness must come from God and is only found in God. Because of personal opinions and personal views, many, even Christians, are deceived and support evil! How? Let us take all the above and break it down.

In the political realm, this evil is supported when it is voted for. When it is given the reigns of power and control. In turn, instead of promoting truth, lawfulness, and righteousness, it supports, promotes and protects evil! Some may say,

I don’t support this social issue or that! I don’t agree with those parts, but I still vote for that party or individual.

I would encourage looking at Romans 1:32. Approval and being supportive does not come simply by being actively engaged with the evil. It could be found in helping evil gain control, and the ability to carry out evil. Guilt is placed on the individual for this support. It is also, in the same vein of thought, a betrayal of our faith. If we claim to be a Christian, and we support and aid that which God condemns, we are not being true to our own faith or convictions.  

How about Judicially? Judges have the ability to make sure things done are done according to law and truth. We find judges actively pushing their own agendas and evil. It does not take long to find cases where this is true. The Christian Law Association recently put out an article in their Legal update that captures this (CLA's So...Is That Really Your Conviction?). Their Legal update starts with this quote,

More and more American Christians are being taken to court over matters relating to their Biblical faith today. As a nation, America no longer encourages religious liberty; the country only reluctantly tolerates it...In the courts today, Christians do not have to prove that they are right, but they must prove that what they claim to be convictions are, in truth, convictions, and not merely preferences...The Supreme Court determined that every single religious belief is one of two types: either a conviction or a preference. In the United States of America, only convictions are protected by the Constitution. Preferences are not.

David C. Gibbs, Jr. lays out the difference between convictions and preferences and comes to this powerful conclusion,

A conviction will always show up in a person’s lifestyle. A conviction must be lived consistently and be consistent with itself...Many Christians in our country are living lives that defy their stated beliefs. They are against in some forms what they are willing to accept in others. They denounce actions in others that they consider acceptable in themselves.

Do we see this truth? Now couple this with what we said about support and the weight and truth is becoming even deeper. Judges make rulings and decisions that defy law, constitution, morally objective truth, and even just the common decorum of human decency!

Let us turn to education. When was the last time prayer was in Schools? Bible reading? Just recently a high school football coach was re-instated because he was fired unlawfully. What did he do? At the end of games, he, by himself, went to the field and knelt and prayed. This is America. Looking at our “higher” institutions of learning, we find course study on witchcraft to sexual pleasures. But teaching the Bible? God is removed, prayer is removed, and liberally, progressive social issues are promoted and ingrained in the mind of the students. Weep, brothers and sisters.

Then society. Anyone who thinks we are going in the right direction and our nation is better now than before, I can only pray that your eyes are opened to the truth. Our society today is rolling in evil and wickedness and happily so. We have descended to a point where many behave like animals, and in some cases this is not just a figure of speech (if you have the stomach for it, look up something called Human Puppy Play. WARNING, THIS IS NOT FOR CHILDREN!!!!). This is what happens when a nation forgets God – Romans 1:28. Anything and everything that is decent, moral, true, right, absolute and firm is under attack and told it has no place in society. Sexual sin and immorality is worshiped in media and given an entire month of pride and we have not seen the end of this slippery slope. Weep, O Christian! Cry out like never before, for our nation is absolutely ripe for judgment!

But my greatest heart break is to see the state of the church. The church has become some hideous beast compared to what it is supposed to be. Where the Bible, truth, and Scriptural morality, and righteousness should be found, in its place is a social driven message, a feel good motivational speech, and blasphemous gibberish. Charles Spurgeon once said,

A time will come when instead of shepherds feeding the sheep, the church will have clowns entertaining the goats.

Churches have become a disgrace to the nature of God. The pulpits filled with psychology and motivational speeches. The “preachers” have become just as vile, disgusting, degenerate, and evil as the world. The church functions as social clubs and justice warriors. Greed, envy, and self pleasure hangs on every speech delivered. These “preachers” and “churches” are greasing the pole to hell and happily jump on leading many with them. God must shake His head in disgust at what is often passed for “church” and “worship”. Match the following verses to what we hear and see today: 1 Timothy 6:3-5; 2 Peter 2:15; 1 Timothy 6:6-10; Colossians 2:21-23; 1 Corinthians 14:40. It is harder to find good teachers and churches than false. No wonder our nation is falling. The root is sin and the one place where truth and light is to be thundered forth, is no better than the world!

There is a second way to handle the evil and wickedness. The Bible gives us this in Proverbs 4:14-17. Up to this point, Proverbs 4:1-13 has made the plea to have wisdom. Wisdom allows us to see and measure, with intellect, the truth, what path we are on. From there, proper decisions can be made because we have Godly wisdom, not earthly. So what do we find? The wisdom allows us to do exactly what is said in Proverbs 4:14-15.

Do not enter the path or walk in the way of wickedness and evil. Matthew Henry, in his commentary gives three points which are worth laying out,

1. We must take heed of falling in with sin and sinners… 2. If at any time we are inveigled into an evil way, we must hasten out of it...3. We must dread and detest the ways of sin and sinners and decline them with the utmost care imaginable.

We are not to just not walk in the path, but we are to actively avoid it! Many Christians, foolishly, rush forward without a moment’s pause to stop and consider the path they are one! Matthew 10:16 should be on the forefront of our minds seeing the land mines surrounding us. In many of these settings, friendship evangelism very rarely works. Too often, Christians are led FURTHER away from where they should be, not bring others closer. This is why we must be on guard as James says in James 4:4. We cannot have friendship with the world and God. We can be at peace with those around us (Romans 12:18). We can be cordial, and nice. We can even be in the world. But at no point do we be of the world (John 17:14-15). Perhaps by having this stance, we will see others hunger for what we have. That will never happen when we talk, act, live, and behave like the world without a division between the two. Again, what is the difference between convictions and preferences? Standing in solidarity never brings to righteousness. It only leads to death.

Then we turn to the very nature of those who are evil. Proverbs 4:16-17 lays out their very nature. These people cannot have peace or rest unless some evil work or deed is done. They find peace when pain, misery, grief, wickedness, or vileness is unleashed. They cannot rest unless someone else falls and is destroyed. Of course the main focus of their attacks are Christians, but they settle for anyone.

The Bible lays out so much in regard to these people. Let us look at a few passages and see if these are those who we want to be around.

Proverbs 1:16. They run to evil and shed blood (not just blood from murdering, but those who support abortion are part of this as well).

Psalm 36:4 – They plan and plot evil even while they should be sleeping, and they love it.

Micah 2:1 – They not only work the evil, but then they have the power, ability, and position to execute their evil.

2 Peter 2:14 – They preach one thing and live another (this passage is talking about false teachers). This is why it has been said here at Calvary, we are to live our faith and our faith is to dictate our life. This is the purpose of Ephesians 4:1; Philippians 1:27; and Colossians 1:10. Are we getting the point here?

Is this making sense for the only hope the nation has is if true Christians get hold of this truth of not walking in the path or way of wicked and evil. Matthew Henry said,

Mischief is rest and sleep to them...Mischief is meat and drink to them; they feed and feast upon it.

Are these the ones whom we are to be in the way with? Psalm 1:1 should be a guide for us in these matters. A Christian should desire to live Psalm 1:2 and to obey the challenge of Proverbs 4:14-15. Not live like those in Proverbs 4:16-17. Matthew Henry makes this very clear and concise statement,

It is very scandalous; for there is no disposition of mind that is a greater reproach to human nature, a greater enemy to human society, a bolder defiance to God and conscience, that has more of the devil’s image in it, or is more serviceable to his interests, than a delight to do mischief and to vex and hurt, and ruin everybody.

It is not just voting for our favored party. It is not just hoping for “justice” as the world terms it. It is not just supporting social issues. It is not just getting an education, and it is not just sitting in a church. It is giving approval and support to the evil they are doing! Those who do this are going to be held guilty as those who are doing the evil directly based on Romans 1:32! Flee Christian from these houses of death!

When we focus on Proverbs 4:17, it isn’t just they want to do evil...they live by doing evil! This is what is meant by their bread and wine. Bread is a basic source of life. Even in the worst of poverty, bread can be a source of food, nourishment, and help. This is why what Jesus says in Matthew 6:11 is so special. It is the very basics of our needs. Give to us the very basis and basics of our needs. This basic level is not to be missed. It is not some hard concept to grasp. The evil ones do evil because they survive by doing evil.

So now comes the application and a hard one it is. This text calls for an entire investigation of our own self and being. We must inspect our entire life and associations to confirm we are not in this way, either actively or sportively. It does not matter if our OPINIONS OR FEELINGS tells us one way or the other. Truth is truth and cares not for emotion. We have to go about this hard if we want to do what is right. The longer we have been in the evil way, the harder this will be. It requires there to be that absolute emotionless ripping out of our lives anything that does not produce the wisdom spoken of in Proverbs 4:1-13. For if we do not, we will not have the wisdom to do what we are called to do in Proverbs 4:14-17. And if we cannot do that, then the instructions in Proverbs 4:18-27 will NEVER be walked or a characteristic of our lives. Avoid the evil that is so prevalent in our world. But then, avoid and remove the wicked. As we said before, we must be ruthless about this for it is a matter of life and death. How are we doing?

O Christian. Dear beloved. You have a choice now. There is no words in our language, no logic in our mind, no force in our speech that can or will get anyone to do the right thing. It can only come from the Holy Spirit who is going to work with us. Do not be hardhearted and refuse to change and be molded in the image of God. We should desire to be so.