September 18, Proverbs 14
Whoever walks in uprightness fears the LORD, but he who is devious in his ways despises him.
- Proverbs 14:2
Strong words capture our attention. The word "despises" captured my attention when I started reading this chapter to decide what I wanted to write. I marked several other verses, but kept returning to this one. Who is this person who despises the LORD? How can anyone who believes in God and knows about him despise him? Let's explore this together for a few moments.
Despise is a verb that means to feel contempt, to hate, detest or abhor someone or something. It is to regard the person or object despised as unworthy of notice or consideration. How could anyone feel that way about God?
The verse says that the person who is devious in his ways despises the LORD. This person is sneaky. He hides his true feelings and motives. He intends to do wrong, and has a plan to cloak his wrongdoing in secrecy. He deceives people about his motives and his actions. He has no integrity.
It's easy to see how this person despises the people around him, holding them in contempt and deceiving them. In what way does he despise God by being devious?
This devious person despises the fact that God sees and knows everything. Does he really think that his actions and even his thoughts are hidden from God? Or does he just choose to ignore Hebrews 4:13: "And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to who we must give account." He may be aware of this attribute of God, but he thinks and acts as if it's not so.
The devious person despises the reality of God's presence. Some people watch their language "in front of the preacher." Most of us let up on the gas pedal when we see the state trooper's car ahead. I want people to respect God, not me, enough to be careful about what they say in front of him (which is every word we say, wherever we are). God is of "purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong” and has promised his people "I will never leave you or forsake you" (Habakkuk 1:13, Hebrews 13:5). We despise the holiness of God when we are devious, knowing that he sees and knows. If we behave in a devious way, we demonstrate that we have no fear (holy reverence or regard) for the Lord.
A devious person despises God's sovereignty. He may know intellectually that God is in complete and absolute control over all things, and may have even confessed him as Lord. But the devious man rejects God's control or rule over his life as he schemes and plots rebellion against the King of the universe and of his life.
The devious person despises God's grace. A Christian who sins deliberately may think of grace as a "Get Out of Jail Free" card. But Hebrews 10:29 says the one who sins deliberately after knowing the truth "has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace." That's strong language about serious business. We are dependent on God's grace to come to Christ and to live for Christ. But we show contempt for the Son of God and the blood he shed to redeem us if we are devious enough to keep on sinning deliberately.
Frederick Buchner described ungodliness as “living as if God is irrelevant." The ungodly may know that God is all the things we’ve described here and much more, but they don’t care. That's how this devious person despises God. Will you join me in making a fresh resolution about this today? Let's resolve to live upright lives of integrity and never again willingly show contempt for or despise our God.
Copyright © 2021 by Michael B. McElroy. Used
by permission. All rights reserved.
Today in God's Word—September 2024
East Tallassee Church of Christ
Comentarios