Proverbs 17.20
“A man of crooked heart does not discover good, and one with a dishonest tongue falls into calamity.”
Yesterday we read about the blessings of a godly leader whose heart is the hand of the Lord. If we look back in Proverbs, we also read about the negative impact of corrupt leaders. The word used for “crooked” in Proverbs 17.20 is the Hebrew haphak, and it means “to be turned or perverted.” In this verse it describes a heart that has turned away from God and toward error and evil. It is a heart that was become crooked and perverted.
Remember what we said yesterday. The heart is the executive center of a person’s life. It is the intersection of where we think, feel, and make choices. Therefore, if the heart is haphak, a person will be distorted in their thinking and feeling, and they will make bad choices. A person with a haphak heart (a heart turned away from God) does not seek what is good, and therefore does not discover what is good.
This is amplified when the person is a leader. A leader with a haphak heart does not seek what is good for the group they lead. A leader with a crooked heart seeks to advance self. They want position in order to gain power.
This proverb tells us to listen carefully to what people say. It tells us that there is a relationship between a person’s spirit and a person’s speech. It’s about the condition of the heart and the words that flow from the heart. It is a recurring theme in the book of Proverbs and throughout scripture. Jesus said it most clearly: “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” (Matthew 12.34)
Proverbs 4.23-24 says it this way: “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life. Put away from you crooked speech, and put devious talk far from you.”
A crooked heart neither seeks truth nor speaks truth. It has “crooked” thoughts and says “crooked” things. A crooked heart speaks recklessly, and says wrong things at the wrong time in the wrong way and for the wrong reasons. Such speech is hurtful, irritating, disruptive, and destructive.
Those with a rebellious heart ridicule authority, especially God’s authority. They criticize anyone they wish, whenever they please, however they want. Because of their reckless speech, they create problems for others, and eventually fall into calamity themselves.
Sadly, today there are many people saying reckless things from a haphak heart, and they are sewing the seeds of calamity in our society. If America is to heal our partisan divide and move forward, if there is to be real progress in our nation, this must stop. We are in a time that is in great need of renewal of the heart.
It will start with leaders who submit their hearts to the hand of God, and who speak and act with wisdom. And again, please do not project this statement onto the leaders of the “side” that you don’t like. Start with yourself. Make sure your heart is in the hand of the Lord, and make straight those places where your heart is tempted to being turned.
“Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts. And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” (Psalm 139.23-24)
