Trouble

DEVOTION

PROVERBS

TROUBLE

Prov 22:8

8 He who sows wickedness reaps trouble, and the rod of his fury will be destroyed.

NIV

Once again we are faced with people who are going to perish, to be fully destroyed. Why do men wish to be wicked if their fate is destruction? Maybe they just do not believe all the truth of God. Maybe they refuse to accept God exists so they can act in their wicked ways without considering any consequence. Yet God has said that he has put the knowledge of himself in every man. He has said that everyone can know him because it is plain by what he has created and therefore they are without excuse. He has said the people suppress the truth about him by their wicked ways. We can understand that in a sense as we once held a hatred for the idea of God and the organized form of religion. We might even have been one of those who refused to acknowledge there was a God, that he was simply made up by man to control other men. When we look at the history of the church and we see that some of the supposed religious men used God to control people, it is no wonder some feel God is not a God of love and religion is just as wicked as they are. The Pharisees had Jesus killed. How wicked that was. Although it was the plan of God all along, he knew the hearts of those wicked men and used them to accomplish his plan. But the point is we will always have the wicked among us and we should make sure we do not mingle our hearts with them. We must mingle our lives, being among them on a daily basis, in fact, we are to spread the gospel among them. But we are not to mingle our hearts. Because we once had a darkened heart and felt the prompting of the Holy Spirit, although we did not know that was who it was then, we have opened our heart to God. A heart that is open to God cannot be open to wickedness. A heart open to God will live forever, while a heart open to wickedness will be fully destroyed. Why or how can we stand by and watch such a fate when we have the opportunity to bring them the good news, perhaps assisting them to open their heart to God. It is still up to them, but maybe they actually have had the wrong impression about God, as we once did. Perhaps they simply have not opened their eyes to see the truth about God, as we once had closed eyes. Maybe they just need to hear it once in words they can understand. Maybe they only know wickedness, and are not even looking for God. He says they are without excuse, but maybe, just maybe we can have an influence in helping them to see God. We cannot just remain passive while people we know will perish. We must speak the truth to them, then it is up to them, but we have done what we must do. We cannot sit idle while people reap trouble.