Proverbs 4:19
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The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at what they stumble.
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Are you appalled at the stupidity of the human race, especially the present generation? You should be! Due to the depravity of their hearts and ignorance of their minds, they live in total darkness as to truth and wisdom. They keep hurting themselves with what they cannot see, and their lives become more and more dysfunctional each passing day.
Solomon concluded a parallelism here. In the previous proverb, he described the life of a just man as the shining light, which increases until the full light of the day is seen (4:18). As a man learns and applies truth and wisdom, God gives him more understanding in the same way a sunrise chases away darkness and eventually brings broad daylight.
But the wicked cannot see at all, for they walk in darkness. They do not know why they trip and fall, for they cannot see the errors in their thinking. Their arrogance is a great curse, for there is more hope of a fool than a man who thinks he is right (26:12). They rush on in sin, until suddenly it shocks them with painful results (Ps 36:1-2; 50:21-22).
There are many examples of this proverb. Wise men consider the world and go humbly to Scripture, lest they become as confused and ignorant as those around them. Wise parents will show the world's folly and its painful consequences to their children. The sons of God should despise the children of darkness (29:27; Gen 6:1-2; Ps 139:21-22).
God owes truth and wisdom to no man. He revealed His eternal power and Godhead in His creation (Rom 1:18-20). When they reject this offer of knowledge, He justly darkens their hearts and leaves them in confusion (Rom 1:20-23). The curse of sodomy and many other corruptions are God's judgment on rebellious men (Rom 1:24-32; Eph 4:17-19).
Enjoy God mocking idolaters - who take leftover wood and worship it! They have a lie in their right hand and cannot let go (Is 44:9-20)! When men do not love the truth they are offered, God sends them strong delusion to believe lies and be damned (II Thess 2:9-12). He deceives prophets to teach lies, when a man comes with idols in his heart (Ezek 14:1-11). And He sent a lying spirit to Ahab, who had chosen wickedness (I Kgs 22:19-23).
Consider. The lazy fool pampers himself by sleeping in, but he is frustrated he cannot afford anything (21:25). The fornicator thinks he has found the ultimate pleasure, until he wakes up the loneliest man on earth (5:4-5). The modern mother chooses to coddle her children rather than train them, but they disgrace her to shame (29:15). A prudish woman defrauds her husband of frequent love, and she wonders why he is bitter (I Cor 7:1-5).
The lustful fool dates a woman for her body, and he cannot grasp how he ended up in marital hell (30:21-23; 31:30). The college student writes against the administration, yet her husband's adultery angers her. Politicians get elected by offering welfare, but they are confused by reductions in productivity and increases in outlays! The carnal Christian watches television every night, but he blames the pastor for preaching boring sermons!
The modern woman aborts two unborn babies, but she suffers a nervous breakdown when her neighbors get in a fight! The evolutionist teaches man came from monkeys, but he wants police protection from the baboons in the hallway! The Arminian chooses decisional regeneration, but he asks why there is no fruit! The intellectual rejects the idea of a Creator and ends up following Freud's insane infatuation with his own bodily waste!
Do not think the world is getting more enlightened. Only the educated idiots of the past few generations could believe in evolution. Only the truly blind could admire Picasso! Only the truly darkened could read Nietzsche! Paul warned that evil men and seducers would get worse and worse (II Tim 3:13). The moral decline of mankind is obvious. Simply view its art, listen to its music, read its books, watch its youth, count its divorces, measure its contentment, calculate its chemical dependency, number its suicides, etc.
Reader, there is light in Scripture! They can save you from the insanity of the world. Listen to the psalmist. "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path" (Ps 119:105). "The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes" (Ps 19:8). "O send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles" (Ps 43:3).
There is light in the proverbs! "For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life" (6:23). Isaiah wrote, "To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them" (Is 8:20). The Bible is better than God's voice from heaven! "We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts" (II Pet 1:19).
Jesus Christ is the light of the world. But only those drawn by His Father - the elect - ever come to His light (John 1:5; 3:19; 6:44-45). He was a stone of stumbling to most (I Pet 2:8), which the apostles continued by not modifying the gospel (I Cor 1:22-24). God had foretold this darkness, and Jesus justly perpetuated it (Isaiah 8:13-15; Matt 13:10-17).
If you can comprehend Jesus Christ, it is by God's free mercy (Matt 11:25-27). You must already be born again, for prior to regeneration a man cannot see or hear anything spiritual (John 3:3; 8:43; I Cor 2:14). Cast yourself on God's mercy in Christ, and you will not be confounded in the great day coming to smash the world (Luke 3:7; I Pet 2:6).
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