In those times when evil men seem to prosper, having the things that a righteous person has yearned for, such as money and possessions, the temptation is to envy them for their prosperity.  We must always remember that we only see the outward man and only at certain times.  We have no idea what goes on within the heart of an evil person - the inner struggles they put themselves in, the broken relationships they create, the lack of peace and contentment that they so desire, but is unable to attain because their hearts are continuously devising evil and the path of their life is nothing but trouble and violence.  Will they tell you that they are miserable inside?  Of course not! They put on a facade that life is wonderful for them, when in reality, they have their own battles to fight.

• Not forgetting that anything that is contrary to the will of God, is evil in the eyes of the Lord, we discover that evil takes many forms in people. 
• For the most part, those that devise evil in their heart would refuse any offer of the good life in Christ until they have come to their rock bottom, and the only light of hope for them would be Jesus. 
• Most people do not change their life until a crisis hits them personally to when they have to take a serious look at themselves.
• Is that crisis their rock bottom?  Only God know!  Bottoms are different for each person.  Sadly, most evil people die before they hit their bottom, and any chance of a peaceful life will never be attained.  The only thing they face then is their eternal judgment by God, in which they will end up in the eternal Lake of Fire forever, suffering in the consequences of their actions while they lived upon the earth.

I'm of the firm convinction that if God places us in a position around such a person, and the opportunity presents itself, the presenting of Jesus can at least become seed for them for when and if they come to the end of themself, hitting his or her own rock bottom. 

• As a general rule, I avoid evil people unless that Lord gives me direction to speak to one at a divine appointed time.  Then, those seeds presented, in which more than likely they will refuse, will remain in their mind until a time comes when they would hit their bottom and the only thing they see looking upward is hope in Jesus.  Maybe, just maybe, that person will then repent and come to Christ - only God knows.  But how are they going to know unless we tell them?  Our job is to plant the seed of the Gospel to a dying world, water that seed, or yield a harvest in our presenting the Gospel to others.  And we never know when we tell others of Jesus whether we are a planters, waterers, or one who will yield a harvest.

In all seriousness, we are to have pity and compassion on these kind of people because they are caught in a web of curses and deceit, and are unable to get out.  They have no idea how to have a peace that passes all understanding that we, as believers in Christ Jesus have, unless we tell them. 

A Wisdom Built Home 

The moral and spiritual value of a home is built by wisdom - the wisdom of God.  As such, we need to continuously gain knowledge of God's ways through His Word, purposing to understand it, and then, and only then, can we, when applied, use wisdom to build our house.  Little by little, we take that knowledge learned to establish our house into a home. 

• In the same way that a house is built brick by brick - walls are constructed, plumbing and electricity are put in - and then the final touches is the decorating in each room to build our house into a lovely home as a dwelling place for ourselves and our family. 
• Also, in the same way, our bodies are temples - dwelling places - of the Holy Spirit, and to grow in Christ, we need to first apply God's knowledge to our lives, purpose to understand His Word, and then when applied, we can walk in the wisdom of God.  We have created a temple - a beautiful temple for the Holy Spirit to dwell and direct the life of the believer.
• As husband and wife, we need each to spiritually share what we learn with each othr through God's Word, and then teach it to our children - day in and day out.

The blessings of building a home with God's wisdom, is a sense of love and security that is missing in most homes without God.  God's presence fills the home with precious and pleasant riches of love, joy, peace, and the fruit of the spirit within. 

• Those who grow up in such a home are truly blessed. 

The Strength of Wisdom

⁵ A wise man is strong, yes, a man of knowledge increases strength;  ⁶ For by wise counsel you will wage your own war, and in a multitude of counselors there is safety.

Strength does not necessary mean muscles and brauns.  Strength can be the application of wisdom in the right circumstances where courage and wisdom is needed to accomplish a feat.  The opposite is true by a fool - for they are weak and vulnerable unable to attain any such strength and wisdom. 

• King Solomon was telling others that it is a good thing to get wise council - especially if waging war is considered.   There is strength in the number of wise counselors, because more than likely the battle of war will not be necessary when wisdom and strategy is used to bring forth peace.  

The fool looks at the wisdom of God as foolish or something he knows he can never attain.  Instead, a fool will scheme to look for ways to make himself look superior or above someone who is walking in righteousness, hoping to outwit them.   God considers this kind of foolishness wicked and evil, and an abomination to Him.

• The fool devises ways to do or say things that will make him look superior, when in reality he is doing whatever he is doing to benefit himself at the expense of others.  A godly wise person, however, will see right through those kinds of schemes.  Others less wise will eventually discover who the real fool is. 
• When, however, confronted with God's wisdom, the fool knows enough to shut his mouth, for he knows is can never attain the wisdom of the wise, so he keeps quiet during those times. 

¹⁰ If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small.

• These are the days when believers can rely upon certain promises of God knowing it becomes a source of strength to us as we sometimes wearily work our way through the trial at hand.  A wonderful promise is that the Lord tells us several times in Scripture is that He will never, ever leave us nor forsake us.  (Deut 31:6).  Proverbs 3:5-6 tells us to Trust in the Lord with all of our stsrength and lean not on our own undertanding.  In all of our ways, acknnowledge Him, and He will direct our path.  
• While these wonderful scriptures are there for us to rely on, when in times of trouble they become doubly important for us to apply to our life.  Those are the times where we purpose to pick ourselves up by the bootstraps and lean heavily on these verses, remembering, that the trial we are in is only temporary, and the God is working through us to become the victor in this situation.  Our faith will be built up even stronger when we and the Lord travel down that road of adversity together to find the victorious ending.

Jesus has never forsaken me, and even though certain trials were difficult to go through, Jesus and me became the victor.  The same can happen to you.  You and Jesus together, you cannot lose.  Even as you travel through a certain trial of adversity, it only lasts a little while.  Within a short time, you will discover you and Jesus won.  You became the victor, and your faith ha become stronger. 

Help to Those Bent on Destruction

In this passage, King Solomon could be referring to a prisoner who has unjustly been imprisoned and condemned to die.  In that case, it is the duty of all of citizens to see that justice overcomes this kind of evil. 

More than likely, however, King Solomon is referring to our neighbors around us or probably, more than likely refer to those around us who destructive abuse their lives and are heading to a destruction of their own making.  It could be the fool or an evil person - anyone who is not following in the ways of the Lord.  

• God tells us in I Timothy 2:4 that it is His desire that ALL men be saved and come to the knowledge of His truth.  It has never been God's desire that anyone should perish.
• As was brought out previously, when God puts an opportunity in our path to witness to someone, we need to follow through in telling them about Jesus.   If God opened up the opportunity, He will anoint us to speak forth His truth.  They could be seeds, or we could be watering someone else's seed, or actually be privileged to bring in the harvest of a soul to Jesus.

The Benefits of Honey and Wisdom

In the same way that honey from the honeycomb is sweet and good to the taste, as well as is beneficial for us with health-giving properties, the knowledge of wisdom is the same for our soul.  It is good for us and it is good for us to seek after for all the rewards it provides.   

• The gaining of wisdom gives rewards in life that will guide us each step of the way throughout life causing us to be the righteousness in God.  Our hope in life then is to one day be with Jesus eternally since we have spent our life here on earth as a righteous person walking with Christ here on earth.

Wisdom takes time to pursue because, again, you have to first gain knowledge of God's Word, then pursue to understand it in order to apply God's wisdom to our lives.

The Strength of the Righteous

By now, we all know the fate of the wicked.  Judgment awaits, followed by spending an eternity in the Lake of Fire.  Through King Solomon, God is tellig us that we should never rejoice in their falling.   That is a dangerous place to be - for if God sees us rejoicing over the falling of the wicked, it brings our hearts into gloating and pride.  Remember, it is God's desire that all men be saved and come to the knowledge of His truth.  Our hearts should be to have compassion on them - compassion enough to pray for them and when the Lord opens up an opportunity, we need to be able to share Jesus with them.  

Do Not Anger Over Evildoers

Respect for God and king

Wisdom tells us to fear the Lord first, but it is also wisdom to fear…or have an respect and honor for the rulers over us (Rom 13:1-7).

• Notice here that we are to fear and reverence God first and foremost above all else.   Our obedience to our rulers are secondary, but never when it comes to things which are contrary to the will and command of God (Acts 5:29).
• Those who want to overthrow or change our present system of government must be on guard to prevent a revolution.  If a revolution were to happen, this can pull down a country into total ruin. 
• Here is the United States, our Constitution of our rule of government, with the president, congress and senate as servants of the Constitution over the people.  Our Constitution aligns itself up with the Word of God, so furthermore we can depend on our Constitution to be fair to all people in this country.  It is up to those who rule over us to obey the Constitution, and it is the responsibility of the people to make sure they do.

True Justice

The Right Answer

Proper Planning/Proper Order

²⁷  Prepare your outside work, make it fit for yourself in the field; and afterward build your house.

King Solomon was giving the proper order in building, using himself and the farmer as a model. 

• Preparations for Solomon’s temple were made before his palace was built.  It wasn't that King Solomon did not have a place of temporary residence, but all efforts to begin his reign over Israel was to build the temple, which took seven years.  Then, afterward, he built his palace to live in

• For the farmer, the same rules apply.  Do the planning of outside work of plowing the land and planting gardens before the permanent house can be built.  The harvest will bring in the income to be able to build the house.

All this to say, do nothing without a plan.  The planning will not be a waste of time, but a time to properly do things in the order that it needs to be done.

Gossip

Gossip is ugly and we must avoid it at all costs, because it can cause great harm to someone, which is a sin against God, the person, and to oneself. 

• Sadly, when someone spreads rumors about us, expecially without a cause, it is usually exaggerated to make it a deception - and often downright lies.  
• The natural part of us wants to take revenge upon them and do to them as they did to you.  
• Our Bibles in 1 Thess 5:15 tell us, however, to not return evil for evil.  Just because someone has spoken evil or lies against us does not justify that we should speak evil and lies against them.
• Our Bibles tells us that even as an injured party, our hearts must remain pure before God. While we may purpose to defend ourselves if necessary, we must never purpose to get even. 
• Wisdom tells us here to forgive the offender and commit that wrong doing to the Lord, trusting that He will exhonorate us.  As hard as that is sometimes, we have to work out a hurt and angry heart with the Lord.  He will do the work of forgiveness in us. 
• In the end, God wins, He will honor you, and you can hold your head up high because you have done your part the godly way, using God's wisdom.

The Ending of the lazy man

King Solomon now tells the story of what happens as an ending to a lazy man.  A wise man walked by the vineyard of a lazy man who lacked understanding.

• The wise man pondered and said to himself:  "Where was the fruit?"  All he saw were overgrown thorns with a broken-down stone wall surrounding the field.  It became apparent that no work had been done in this  field of thorns.  

• The wise man knew that the field was owned by a lazy man who liked to sleep and was too lazy to even plow and plant his field.  Weeds and thorns came from the neglect of working the field, but the field sprouted out throrns almost as if they had been planted.

The lesson that the wise man learned was he was grateful because he would not have to suffer the same fate as the lazy man.  He knew the lazy man chose to sleep away his time instead of diligently working in his field to produce his crop. Poverty set in and became the lazy man's ending because of his slothfulness in wanting to sleep his life away.   

• Because of his neglect, the lazy man now had a field full of thorns that needed to be pulled, and a broken down stone wall that needed to be repaired before he could even think of replanting his vineyard again, which probably would never happen. 
• The lazy man, however, being void of understanding thought himself innocent because he did not deliberately sow the thorns or break down the wall.  His neglect of duty to his land brought about his poverty while he slept.  He was without excuse.   What a waste!

The moral of the story is that poverty comes in like a flood if you don't stay on top of it.   If one is to prosper, one must make the most of his time to do whatever is necessary to reach the goal.  Neglect is not an option, because it will only bring about ruin, coming in like a flood to bring on poverty. 

That points out to us that we have choices in life. 

• We can be diligent in our ways, which brings on prosperity, 
• Or we can be like the lazy man and sleep our life away, and allowing poverty to swiftly come upon us.
• The choice is ours.   

That's it for chapter 24.

Pastor Joyce Erickson
Believersbibleschool.com