THE CONTRAST
Proverbs 10:25 NKJV
25 When the whirlwind passes by, the wicked is no more,
But the righteous has an everlasting foundation.
As I was reading Proverbs 10, I was struck by how much this particular chapter points out contrasts. A statement is made, and then the following statement is the contrast. Often, the contrast is between the wicked and the righteous. Such as verse eleven, "The mouth of the righteous is a well of life, but violence covers the mouth of the wicked." So a statement is made, followed by "but" and then the contrasting statement. There are so many contrasts in this Proverb, I was tempted to title this devotional The But Proverb. But I would promptly get in trouble with Joy, so we'll stick with The Contrast.
Our verse for today is a great contrast and a great promise. "When the whirlwind passes by, the wicked is no more, But the righteous has an everlasting foundation." We might say when the storm comes the wicked are not able to stand strong. The challenge with this translation is the word wicked. Wicked in our usage today is someone who is terminally evil. Someone who hurts small animals and steals the life savings from elderly adults. When we say someone is wicked, we are indicating this is a bad, bad person.
However, the Hebrew word for wicked takes on a different slant. The Olive Tree Dictionary gives the following definition: "It means essentially someone guilty or in the wrong, and is an antonym to the Hebrew word meaning righteous, in the right." This indicates a contrast between someone who is in the wrong in the eyes of God versus someone who is in the right. Now, when we look at this chapter, we see the advantages of living life God's way, being in the right with Him. We can have nice neighbors who are very polite and socially acceptable, and yet if they don't acknowledge Jesus as Lord and the existence of God, they qualify as being in the wrong. All of us were, at one time, in the wrong and guilty before God. All of us needed the sacrificial act of Jesus going to the cross to pay the price for our guilt. There were none of us right with God until Jesus paid the price and made the way for us to be in right standing with God. This act of grace means we don't blast our nice neighbors for being wicked, but hopefully influence them to receive the grace and rightness that is in Christ.
As people who have been made righteous, we are able to live and walk differently. We are constantly altering our viewpoint of life by adopting the truth of the Scriptures. This is called renewing the mind. We are changing our mindset from the wrong to the right. From the guilty to the innocent. From the erroneous to the truth. And as we do, we build a strong foundation that enables us to stand when the whirlwind comes. This is what Jesus was speaking to in Matthew seven when He contrasted the house built on the rock versus the house on the sand. The more we build our lives on truth, the stronger our foundation. The more we live as those who are right, the stronger our lives become.
We can't stop all the storms of life from coming our way. But we can build a life that is able to withstand the storms.
PRAYER
Thank You, Lord, for Your gift of righteousness. Thank You that because of Your truth, I can build a strong foundation for my life.