Here Are My Thoughts

READ: Proverbs 24

“Fret not yourself because of evildoers, and be not envious of the wicked, for the evil man has no future; the lamp of the wicked will be put out.” (Proverbs 24:19-20)

When I was in high school and college, I spent at least a week each summer counseling at a church camp. If you’ve ever been to summer camp, you know that one of the best parts of the week is the food, and my camp was no exception. One of the things that was a challenge, though, was dealing with all the allergies that come with 70-100 kids.

I remember one particular instance where we had chocolate peanut butter bars for dessert. There was a clearly visible sign saying that this item contained peanut butter, but it didn’t prevent one of the kids who had a PB allergy from taking a bite out of one. His allergy was pretty severe, and moments later, he was picked up and run to the nurse’s cabin, where his older brother (also a counselor that week), stuck him with an EpiPen.

Later, another one of our counselors asked this kid why he took one of the desserts, even though he knew he would have an allergic reaction to it. The kid responded by saying that he was simply tired of feeling left out-all the other kids got to have one, why couldn’t he?

Now, if your natural reaction to that story is to think poorly of that kid, I want you to realize something-we’ve all been there before. We’ve all wanted something we knew we shouldn’t have.

The verses written at the beginning of this post contain the third time in two chapters that Solomon feels the need to warn his audience about the danger of wanting what is evil-of desiring, being envious of, what you know you shouldn’t have.

I find the reasoning that Solomon gives interesting. He says that we shouldn’t be envious of the wicked, of sin, because those who do it have no future. In saying that, he’s giving us insight into a monumental truth about sin-it’s never ultimately worth what you pay for it. Solomon acknowledges that sin, that evil, is desirable to our flesh (for otherwise we would have no reason to be envious of it), but states that it is, at best, a temporary pleasure.

This is real for us, or at least it is for me. I can think of so many times in which I was consumed with the thought of doing/taking/saying/thinking/wanting what I knew I shouldn’t, followed through on it, and wound up totally devastated. After coming down from that momentary high, I KNEW that what I had just done wasn’t worth it. It never is. Sin feels great in the moment but always winds up being regrettable in the future. 

Which is why Solomon says that we shouldn’t bother with being envious of the wicked-because those who do evil are acting only with their present in mind. It may look appealing right now, but that path leads to nothing and nowhere.

Hear this today: The best and safest place you can possibly be is within the will of God. His will for you may, at times, feel restrictive or oppressive-because it keeps you from that which often looks good. But remember that what looks good isn’t always, in fact, good. God’s will for you isn’t oppressive, it’s protective. He’s working, always, to keep you away from what is harmful to you and to moving you towards what is beneficial for you. Trust Him in the moment so that He can secure your future.

-Brett