What the wicked dreads will come upon him,
but the desire of the righteous will be granted.
Proverbs 10:24
As I have read scripture over the years, I see a theme. Wicked people do the opposite of what God says because they fear His will and His control. They dread many things and in an effort to circumvent the will of God, the very thing they dread comes upon them.
“Because of their wickedness of not believing in the goodness of God, what they dreaded came upon them.”
The Israelites came out of Egypt with the God of heaven on their side. He fought for them and delivered them. However, the entire time they were in the desert, they grumbled and said the Lord brought them out of bondage to die in the desert. He absolutely did not do that, but because they lived as if He did, they ended up fulfilling a prophecy they spoke against themselves. Because of their wickedness of not believing in the goodness of God, what they dreaded came upon them. That entire generation died in the desert.
“God was so gracious to them. He knew their cruel bondage and He was tender with their unbelief.”
God was so gracious to them. He knew their cruel bondage and He was tender with their unbelief. God knows our past. He knows if our parents misrepresented Him. He made us. He created our minds and knows how fragile our damaged psyches can be. He is patient, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
We see that reality as He led the Israelites out of Egypt. He didn’t have them sneak out, all cowered down and afraid.
On the day after the Passover, the people of Israel went out triumphantly in the sight of all the Egyptians….
Numbers 33:3
God decimated the powerful nation on the planet for His people who had been slaves. They left slavery physically, but never left the slave mentality. No matter how much God proved His love and care for them, they never saw Him any differently than the taskmasters that ruthlessly ruled over them in Egypt.
They judged God by the people in their past.
I see this all the time. People live in their past. They stay in bondage to the way they were raised, they stay in bondage to a traumatic event, they stay in bondage to cruel words spoken to them by people. I believe God has so much pity on us and our fragile psyches…for a while.
However, if we live our entire lives as victims, it is our fault.
Israel feared Pharoah, their task masters, and their gods. God Almighty brought judgment on everything and everyone they feared. He proved to His people that He was God above every government, god and person they could ever fear. He did wonders for them and let them march out of Egypt in full view triumphantly and defiantly.
God didn’t hold their unbelief against them until it became ridiculous. What else could He do besides destroy their enemies, suspend the laws of nature (parting the sea and bringing water from a rock just to name a couple) and be visible in a cloud by day and fire by night?
“What we believe is so powerful, that it will soon become a fact in our minds (even if it’s false). Whether we realize it or not, we pretty much make sure it happens.”
They feared dying in the desert because they didn’t trust God’s heart or believe His promise. They were wicked and what they dreaded came upon them. They provoked God to the place of making sure they all died in the desert.
What we believe is so powerful, that it will soon become a fact in our minds (even if it’s false). Whether we realize it or not, we pretty much make sure it happens. We believe someone hates us. Everything they do is sifted through our false sieve and pretty soon, we have put them on trial in our minds and convicted them “guilty.” We treat them in such a way, that after a while, they no longer want anything to do with us. Then we congratulate ourselves on how intuitive we are when we actually made something happen because of what we believed. See how what the wicked dread comes upon them? God’s Word is so laser accurate it blows me away. Who else could know the power of our minds (for good or evil) other than the One who made us?
On the other hand, Proverbs says, “But the desire of the righteous will be granted.”
What does it mean to be righteous? Scripture is very plain.
For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.”
Romans 4:3
“The only thing a sinner can really do that’s right is believe in the goodness of God.”
Righteous people are not actually righteous. Righteousness is right behavior that comes from a right belief about God. The only thing a sinner can really do that’s right is believe in the goodness of God. When we truly believe God is trustworthy and we place our trust solely in Him and His Word, a transformation happens in us. We look at God with a right lens, ourselves through a right lens and others through a right lens. We see God’s rule of the world is secure and He is in control. We see that we are utterly corrupt without God’s intervention in our lives to make us into anything good on any level. Finally, we let everyone else off the hook of being anything other than just exactly like us without divine intervention.
What effect will that have on our day to day lives? Peace will be the result. God’s peace. The things we wicked humans dread will be taken care of. We will delight in reality which is:
- God is in control of every single detail in life.
- God is good through and through.
- I am bad through and through.
- So is everyone else.
- God can put His goodness inside of me.
- God can put His goodness inside of anyone He chooses to.
- Therefore, I never expect anything from anyone or despair of anyone.
- There is hope… always.
“As we know God is in control and He is good, our prayers and our thoughts toward others will come from that inexhaustible fountain.”
As we know these things as fact, we will act on what we know, not what our minds conjure up as fact.
As we know God is in control and He is good, our prayers and our thoughts toward others will come from that inexhaustible fountain. We will have hope in what He is doing in our lives and hope for the difficult people all around us. Difficult people and situations will drive us deeper into God, not despair.
“If we ever get near to God on any level, we will despair of no one. We won’t even be capable of it.”
The only people who despair of others are people who think there was something to work within them when God saved their souls. If we ever get near to God on any level, we will despair of no one. We won’t even be capable of it.
Judgmental Christian (like jumbo shrimp) is an oxymoron.
What a promise Proverbs holds if we will live our lives as God wants us to. When we live in righteousness (belief in His goodness), our desires will be granted.
When we live in our own righteousness (which is really wickedness), what we dread will come upon us.
