Proverbs 6:12-15 takes us to a worthless person. Not just one who is low worth but one who has NO worth. It tells us what they do and how they act. My call for all Christians is to look at everyone around us. No matter who they are, or what their position is, whether they are a politician, neighbor, or family. Why do we mark this? Many Christians can run the risk of being blinded by an individual if they are neighbors we like, family members we know, or the political party we like. Notice what the Scripture says as we go through this and notice the seven markers.

The first mark of this worthless, wicked man, is he has a perverse mouth. The word wicked is translated as a son of Belial, wicked, ungodly, etc. This brings out the reality of these people. They are everything but in line with God. Proverbs 6:12 tells us they walk with a perverse mouth. Let us work through this mark. First, we want to deal with their walk. Walking through Scripture can be both good and bad and the Christian must have a walk that is different. In this case, we are going to narrow this down to the walk of the wicked. The first thing to understand about this walk is that it is the walk to be abhorred by the Christian and avoided – Psalm 1:1. This is important to be avoided because any “Christian” who promotes, supports, upholds, helps, votes for, and encourages the wicked is bound to the same destruction as the wicked (Romans 1:32). This individual is trapped by their own lusts compared to the ones who are righteous in Proverbs 11:6. The believer is commanded by God to reject and throw away this kind of wickedness – James 1:21. Failure draws us deeper down because these people are going to support and stand with each other which encourages more evil. They will not stand for the truth, and their wickedness is seen in their walk (Psalm 10:3).

We should have discretion (Proverbs 2:12) because that discretion helps us to see beyond just the looks and presupposed opinions we have. It allows us to pierce to the heart of matters and make the judgment calls necessary. We find in Proverbs 10:7 that many have the words of evil that just fly out and there seems to be no limit to how evil it can be. This type of conversation is absolutely abhorrent for Christians and should be removed from our life – Proverbs 4:24. Be wary of these individuals. When you listen to their talk, watch their walk. Why is this important? Jesus commands us to watch what comes out – Mark 7:20-23. These things are not from a heart that is filled with the Spirit of God. This lack of the spirit makes them of a depraved mind that is the same level of an animal (We see this when they strike out verbally against Christians and Christianity) – Romans 1:28 and Psalm 36:3.

Understand who these people are and mark them. It is not simply a vote, it is deeper than that. It is an aligning with a platform, an action, a behavior. If they are not promoting Godliness, righteousness and holiness, they are promoting ungodliness. It IS NOT Christ. Proverbs gives us wisdom to AVOID these people (Proverbs 2:12). Titus 1:10-11 tells us about these people and yet how many Christians are willing to ignore wisdom simply to continue in what they do? Run from them and do not fall into the trap of blindly following.

Not only should we watch this in ourselves, but we must be wary of those who are willing to continue without a check on their own life. Hence even Proverbs gives us instructions in Proverbs 4:24, and our words and deceit must be put away and not just off to the side but far away! How many Christians have not done this? We move on to the next marks.

Proverbs 6:13 - The second mark winks with his eyes. This is an interesting statement and is connected to Proverbs 6:12. I love how Jamieson, Fausset and Brown sums this up very interestingly. They say,

If, for fear of detection, he does not speak he uses signs to carry on his intrigues. These signs are still so used in the East.

The wickedness of the word and walk may not be “actively engaged with” but there is the smile and the winking toward it.

Oh, I don’t DO what they say or believe what they believe, but I am going to help them out any way I can.

That is a wink. See what was said before? A vote can be a wink. A donation can be a wink. A word of encouragement can be a wink. Remember what Proverbs has warned us about? Go back and look at Proverbs 5:6. and the full blog built around this context. Is it really that bad? Is it really wrong to have a passive view? We will just drop Proverbs 10:10 here for reference. Vital is this reality that we as Christians live above board in all we do. Will we be perfect? No. Our desire is to live as purely and cleanly as we can.

Then we come to the phrase, he shuffles his feet. The word shuffles is an interesting Hebrew word that I will say I find fascinating on how it is translated between the KJV and the NKJV. Shuffle is NKJV but the KJV is speaketh. I believe the concept, as quoted by Jamieson, Fausset and Brown is a good point in that these are signs of acceptance without words. However, why the difference in the translation? I believe, in this case, the Septuigent gives us a great inclination. Brenton’s says,

And the same winks with the eye, and makes a sign with his foot.

We also find, if we read the broken Hebrew, it says,

Scraping with his feet...

It appears the NKJV is translating this a little closer to the original Hebrew Text. To shuffle is to have a foot that scrapes the ground, to scratch the dirt, to “kick rocks”. He is shuffling his feet. It is therefore something that is showing a leaning toward using non verbals to promote the evil from Proverbs 6:12.

Fourth, he points with his fingers. This falls much in line with what has been said and therefore, I would not say much more. The point being is it is not just with words that one supports, or gives any ascent and consent to the evil. Someone can support and promote and elevate the evil by simply not being willing to call out the evil in the first place. It matters not where this evil comes from: Politics (a major driver today), courts, society, and sadly even “churches”. Yet many Christians support and promote this destruction and desecration of what God calls right and good. This betrays who we are as Christians and denies our faith. When we sit in a church that teaches the truth of God’s Word, then support policies and politics who stand, pass and support things God’s Word declares as sin (abortion for example), do we not see the disconnect? Proverbs is warning us about this is so we can watch our own life. Are we willing to admit it and change or will we find ourselves in the same situation as found in Proverbs 6:15? It doesn’t end here.

Proverbs 6:14 – Fifth, he has perversity in the heart. Have we seen how sick many people have become? Not sick as in diseases, but sick with a much deeper issue. They pursue after anything that pleases the flesh and ignores the Spirit. They lie, cheat, murder, sexual immorality of all kinds, steal. They no longer follow their word. This is Romans 1:21, 24, 26, 28 being on display. This is the result of sin, not liberation or freedom. If they can destroy to get ahead, they will. If it feeds their lust, they will partake. Those who stand against them are hated, and persecuted. Look in our country and around the world today. How many Christians have been targeted because of their faith, and the system allows that targeting to happen, being supported by none other professing Christians! Again, disconnect? They accuse the Christians of being the problem when the problem was brought about because of their denial of Christ in the first place. They do not see it because they have a conscience seared with a hot iron (1 Timothy 4:2) and they are blinded because of their sin (2 Corinthians 4:4) and their mind is degraded (Romans 1:21, 24, 26, 28).

Sixth, devises evil continually. This is a natural outflow from what was said. The desire and pursuit is to go after anything that is evil. It is not that they do evil, they are planning it, plotting it, wanting to do it. Look at what is often put forward in the political realm. The good things that would hold back evil is often destroyed and that which is against God is passed and cheered. The Bible talks a lot about this. For example, when we look at Psalm 36:4; Isaiah 32:7; Micah 2:1. There is no redeeming value in their life for it is bent to their own destruction. Yet these are the very ones Jesus came to save. How many would crucify Him today if they could. I dare say most. Proverbs 14:34 gives the solution to help any nation, but most reject righteousness. Jerry Nadler, Representative from NY for an example, said,

What any religious tradition describes as God’s Will is no concern of this Congress.

How many Christians would support this man or those like him? How many did? Do we not fear the wrath of God and do we not desire to live as He calls us to live?

Seventh, sows discord. This is found everywhere. Division. Division between white and black, rich and poor, blue collar and white collar. We see it in society. We see it in the church. We see it in the home. There are those who sow discord. It sets the stage for riots, violence, and hatred. The only way to avoid this is to accept Jesus Christ. Yet He is the One many reject. There can be no peace and fulfillment without Him. What is received? That is where Proverbs 6:15 comes into play.

Proverbs 6:15 Calamity will come to them. It seems like they are protected right now (Psalm 73:1-20) but we must always remember there is a higher court. One that there is only one lawyer and judge and He does not hear any other case. It is to this court ALL will appear and in that moment eternal judgment will fall. God does allow for there to be calamity on this earth as well. We do see this happen. And the result is they will be broken.

For those who are living Proverbs 6:12-14, please hear this call. There are no words strong enough for me to beg you to repent! Jesus died for you and wants you to know His salvation. Yes, you are going to leave behind your way of life when you change. That is a good thing. Failure to repent means you stand before God on your own. All things will be revealed, even the things thought hidden deep. Without Jesus Christ and His mercy, there is an eternity in hell waiting. As such, you have no hope.

But God.

Two of the greatest words in the Bible for it is because of God’s love for us He sent His Son to die in our place. Does this demand from us to crucify the flesh and flee all that has been said here? Yes. But the rewards are far greater than anything that can be found in this life. This is the free gift God gives to all. Call upon the Lord. Repent of your sins. Confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, Believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, that He rose from the dead (Romans 10:9), and put your faith and trust in Him, He will give you His righteousness. He will know if you are serious or not. Come to Him while there is time and He may be found (Isaiah 55:6; 2 Corinthians 6:2).