Proverbs 11:3 The integrity of the upright guides them,
but the unfaithful are destroyed by their duplicity.
This chapter makes a lot of contrasts between good people and bad people, in a number of ways. The problem is, most people don’t think of themselves as “bad people.” They simply don’t think about God or seek to follow Him, whatever their external religion might be. As a result, they do whatever seems attractive or of profit to them, just as it describes in Judges 21:25. In contrast, a genuinely upright person, as this verse expresses it, applies God’s standard to himself, and therefore knows how they should live. We all have decisions to make, constantly, whether we recognize it or not, and we have to live with the consequences of those decisions. We have to choose what and how much to eat, for example. That’s a decision to which we attach little moral weight, but it is a matter of our stewardship of our bodies, and certainly resonates in our health. The decisions we make have increasingly moral overtones, all the way to the young woman who went to a “frat party” and then later accused the men involved, largely because she regretted the decisions she had made at the time. We might be quick to look down on her, but we could be equally on that same “slippery slope,” failing to apply God’s standards to our decisions. God’s rules aren’t to bind us, they are to keep us out of trouble. Many people say they want guidance, but they turn everywhere except to the One who not only knows what is right, He knows the future, and the consequences of every action we might take. We need to trust Him with our lives, deciding to be obedient, trusting that He is omniscient, omnipotent and loving. That is without question the very best path we can take.
Looking back over my life, I wasn’t actively seeking God for long stretches, and that awareness makes me acutely grateful for God’s grace. I had no hesitation when it came to marrying my wife, but the night I first asked her out, the first girl I thought of asking would have led to an absolutely disastrous result. As it was, I got a life partner who was and is uniquely suited to me, just as God said when He created Eve for Adam. (Genesis 2:18) There have been other decisions that seemed bigger at the time than they actually were, such as whether to take a specific job, and there were decisions that seemed small but had large consequences. I need to be at peace with the reality that I don’t know the future, or the consequences of all my decisions, so I need to keep my focus on the only One who does. It is an incalculable blessing that He not only knows, He loves me, and actively has my best interests in mind.
Father, thank You indeed for Your grace. There’s a lot going on today. Help me not be overwhelmed by all the demands for my attention, but rather rest, relax, and rejoice in You, just as You have told me to do, so that Your purposes may be accomplished on Your schedule for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!
