The way of the Lord is a stronghold

Proverbs 10:12-30 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

¹² Hatred stirs up strife,
But love covers all transgressions.

¹⁹ When there are many words, transgression is unavoidable,
But he who restrains his lips is wise.

²⁴ What the wicked fears will come upon him,
But the desire of the righteous will be granted.
²⁵ When the whirlwind passes, the wicked is no more,
But the righteous has an everlasting foundation.

²⁹ The way of the Lord is a stronghold to the upright,
But ruin to the workers of iniquity.
³⁰ The righteous will never be shaken,
But the wicked will not dwell in the land.

Proverbs should fit nicely into our sound bite oriented culture. So much of our communication and information is passed in these types of brief statements. The difference between the Proverbs and much of what we see in various media is that the Proverbs are simple statements of truth which align with the truth of the rest of God’s word and are applicable to our lives. Many of the sound bites and phrases we see and hear in media are actually out of context words designed to mislead rather than reveal actual truth.

“Hatred stirs up strife, But love covers all transgressions.”    We can certainly see the evidence of hatred stirring strife throughout our society today. Hatred is a powerful emotion which is at the root of much of the strife and conflict which exists in our society today. In truth though hatred is more than just a human emotion, it is a spiritual evil and its accompanying spirits of prejudice, envy and fear are at work to stir strife throughout our society. We need to recognize:  our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 6:12)   There is no reason we should hate others because they have a different view of things or because they themselves are different. It amazes me how something that is centered on evil will go viral on social media. Videos of violence and abuse shared repeatedly on social media do not solve the problem of violence or abuse, they do not bring light to a solution. Each time these things are shared and viewed it fuels hatred and strife. The greatest weapon we have against the strife of hatred is love. “Love covers all transgressions.”    God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.(Romans 5:8) The love of Christ covered our transgressions, all of them. If we, in response to God’s love for us, will love God and love others we will defuse much of the violence and hatred in our society.  

^“ When there are many words, transgression is unavoidable, But he who restrains his lips is wise.”    Obviously I don’t want to say too much about this. Perhaps just to add the old adage which says: If you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say anything at all.  Ephesians 4:29 says:  Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear. Jesus Himself says: But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment.

 ^“What the wicked fears will come upon him, But the desire of the righteous will be granted.” Fear is really having faith in what we don’t want rather than what we do want. Hebrews 11:1 says: Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. When we allow fear to rule us we are believing more in the evidence of the circumstances and we allow ourselves to be convinced that the unseen things will be the worst possible outcome. The psalmist says: Delight yourself in the Lord; And He will give you the desires of your heart.
⁵ Commit your way to the Lord, Trust also in Him, and He will do it. ⁶ He will bring forth your righteousness as the light And your judgment as the noonday. (Psalm 37:4-6) As we delight and trust in the Lord we gain the peace and assurance that He is in control. Our desires align with His so naturally He will grant them to us.

 ^“The way of the Lord is a stronghold to the upright, But ruin to the workers of iniquity.
³⁰ The righteous will never be shaken, But the wicked will not dwell in the land.”  A stronghold is a fortress, a place of protection and security. The way of the Lord is a stronghold to the upright. These strongholds are not physical places, they are not built with concrete and steel. The stronghold of the way of the Lord is established in our mind. The human mind is the battleground between good and evil. The outcome of that battle, whether we do good or evil has a lot to do with what we build our strongholds from. If we know and value “The way of the Lord” then our actions will flow from that knowledge, from that established stronghold. If on the other hand we fill our minds with darkness, evil, hatred, envy and prejudice our actions will flow put of and be in alignment with those established strongholds in our lives.  Psalm 89:14 says: Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne.    When we establish ourselves and our lives on righteousness, we establish them on the very thing that God’s rule and authority  has its foundation. Remember though:  All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags ( Isaiah 64:6) The only righteousness that we can have is the righteousness of Christ, available through the cross.

Thank You heavenly Father for the wisdom of Your Word, may it become established in me creating strongholds of Your love and grace. Thank You Lord Jesus Christ, The Word became flesh. You are the embodiment of God’s word, His love and His righteousness and through the cross You have given me the ability to share in that righteousness. Thank You Holy Spirit, the indwelling presence of God for enabling me to walk in the fullness of all that God the Father and Jesus Christ, His Son, my Savior and Redeemer, the Lord of my life, has for me.   Amen.