Proverbs Devotion - Day 28

While chapter 28 deals with various topics, there is an overarching theme of the righteous and the wicked (with more emphasis on the wicked). When you read through this chapter, it is important for you to recognize what the righteous do while also noticing the consequences for the wicked. 

The verses we will focus on today is verses 13 and 14. One of the biggest lies we can believe is that we need to keep our sin and our faults hidden. Some will do anything, even to the point of changing information about ourselves and how we tell the story of our life, just to keep a fault, weakness, or failure hidden. If we make a bad choice or decision and it causes us to fail, we can do everything we can in hope those close to us from finding out. But what usually happens is, to keep that one decision hidden, it requires more stories, more untruths, and more bad decisions. When it is inevitably found out, not only does that person have the bad decision, but now there’s the fallout from broken trust and further damage from the decisions that have compounded. This proverb reminds us that truth is always the best option. To try to hide the transgressions and mistakes is never the best route. Bring the sin and bad choices out into the light. Why? Because then you can obtain mercy. 

Verse 14 then gives the spiritual aspect. It begins with what the righteous will do: he will fear the Lord always. He will revere, honor, and respect the Lord, no matter what. But the wicked will harden his heart. He will turn from the way of the Lord and His truth and authority. He does what is right in his own mind (v26), he will walk crookedly (v18), he is greedy (v25), and will flatter others to make much of himself (v23), among many others found in this chapter. The sad part is that, the actions of the wicked ends up hardening his own heart. Have you ever witnessed that for someone close to you? You hope that this person will reach rock bottom and soften their heart to the truth and the way of the Lord, but it seems they only go deeper and further away from the Lord? The reason for this is that their own actions cause them to go deeper and it’s even more difficult to get them out of that because they are hardened to the truth. Their choices only further their spiral. Ultimately, the proverb says that those who do this are only fooling themselves. They are not just one choice away from getting themselves out of it, but rather they have calamity just around the corner. It is the natural end for those who harden their hearts through sin. 

Now that is the practical application of this proverb, but we shouldn’t just stop there. If Jesus is the ultimate personification of wisdom, then we must ask what does this mean spiritually? Because it’s very easy, as a believer, to look at those we may know in our family or at work or in our neighborhood who lives this way. We can see the writing on the wall for what awaits them if they continue in their sin (even when they cannot see it). However, as believers, how often do we avoid confessing our sin to the Lord? Verse 13 is very clear: we should not try to conceal our transgression to our Heavenly Father. He is ready and willing to forgive us. The question is will we confess it? Because the promise is sure: if we confess it, He is faithful and just to forgive us (1 John 1:9). We will receive mercy because Jesus has already paid for every sin for those who have trusted him as Savior. Confess it because God already knows about it anyway. 

The danger is that we will try our best to cover it up with good works, church attendance, our giving record, other good deeds. We know the sin that resides in our heart and yet we hope we can do enough to make up for it. But we need to acknowledge that no amount of our works will bring forgiveness, it’s only by confessing our sin that we can obtain mercy. The only work that gives mercy is the work of Jesus on the cross for you that is received by faith.  

So, what should we pray? We should pray and ask the Lord to keep our heart tender to fear the Lord always. Ask Him to keep our heart soft towards His word and His commandments. Ask Him to convict us of our sin and help us to confess them quickly so that we can be forgiven. What we know to be true about human relationships, should also be true of our relationship with our Heavenly Father. While man may be fickle and unforgiving, we have a promise that He will always forgive because of the sacrifice of Jesus. What better reason is there to be quick to confess so that we can receive mercy that only He can give!