“An evil man seeketh only rebellion: therefore a cruel messenger shall be sent against him” (Proverbs 17:11).
“An evil man seeketh only rebellion: therefore a cruel messenger shall be sent against him” (Proverbs 17:11).
Authority is from God. It is right and wise. Good men understand it. They know authority exists to profit everyone, so they accept and obey it. Godly men know it is from God, so they obey Him by obeying His appointed rulers.
Evil men hate authority. They resent being told what they can and cannot do, so they disobey and do what they want anyway. God sends merciless enemies to punish them supernaturally and/or naturally. The evil man resentful of authority will be crushed by authority one way or another. All rebellious uprisings will eventually be put down.
“An evil man seeketh only rebellion,” well, we are all evil by nature, so what do we seek? This was Jesus’ words to his followers: “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?” (Matthew 7:11).
Paul said, “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God” (Romans 3:10-11). A man left to himself would never seek God, and the only reason he does at all is the leading of the Holy Spirit, and the Word of God which he hears. I am not a Calvinist; I do not believe in irresistible grace where a man is powerless to say no to God once God begins to deal with him. Man can, and does, say no to God. God will redeem no man against that man’s will.
However, man is so depraved that apart from the conviction of the Holy Spirit, he never would seek God and get saved. He never would “will” to get saved without that conviction and revelation from the Scriptures.
“An evil man seeketh only rebellion,” like a Marx, a Mao, or a Hitler and people like that, “therefore a cruel messenger shall be sent against him.” God did that to Ahab in First Kings 22. He sent a lying spirit in the mouth of his prophets. Why? Ahab was a wicked man that rebelled against God and refused to do what He wanted.
Evil men are always rebelling against God by mixing truth with error. They promote equal rights for women by destroying them. Today, it would appear that these same women who are demanding that they be treated equally, are more than willing to embrace Islam which includes Sharia Law where the women are in no sense considered equal to the men. They promote pro-choice when it comes to abortion, even though the infant has no choice at all in the matter. They call for moratoriums on the death penalty even though it means that even more innocent people will die because the murderers no longer fear what the state can do to them. So forth, and so on.
Let’s read a chapter of Proverbs a day and see what God might have for us. As the Lord leads, share with us what God has shown you in a special way and by His grace let us build up a devotional repository. Let’s keep our knives and forks handy for some daily bread!
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