Proverbs 10.23
“Doing wrong is like a joke to a fool, but wisdom is pleasure to a man of understanding.”
Foolish people think that doing wrong is fun. For them, doing wrong is a joke to be laughed at. They entertain themselves and others with inappropriate things. This is because they have rejected God’s standards, and their reference point for everything is what they think and how they feel. They have embraced low standards.
A man of understanding, on the other hand, delights in exploring and finding the wise thing to do. Sin is not funny; it is not a joke; it is not a form of entertainment. It is something to be avoided and eliminated. Wise people have high standards. Their reference point is truth.
Proverbs 10.24-25
“What the wicked dreads will come upon him, but the desire of the righteous will be granted. When the tempest passes, the wicked is no more, but the righteous is established forever.”
This proverb contrasts the wicked and the righteous in terms of what they will get out of life. Ultimately, the wicked will get what they fear and not what they desire. Vice versa for the righteous.
Also, both the wicked and the righteous will experience the inevitable storms that are part of life in a fallen world. However, the wicked will not survive the storms. The righteous not only survive the storms, but experience God’s purpose and peace in the midst of the storms.
Adversity — the storms of life — will test the strength of your foundation. Storms will test the strength of your belief system. Storms will test the extent to which you actually believe your belief system. Jesus spoke to this in the Sermon on the Mount:
“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.” (Matthew 7.24-27)
Please note that in this parable both the wise man and the foolish man heard the words of Jesus. However, the foolish man did not obey the words of the Lord. He chose to build his life on ideas and behaviors contrary to God’s truth. The rock is obedience to the truth. The sand is failure to obey. The storm is the test.
Trust Jesus. Hear and obey his words. Survive the storms.
