Pondering Proverbs – Witness (12)

 

“Deceit is in the heart of those who devise evil, but counselors of peace have joy.” (Proverbs 12:20).

 

“Anxiety in a man’s heart weighs it down, but a good word makes it glad. The righteous is a guide to his neighbor, but the way of the wicked leads them astray.” (Proverbs 12:25 – 26).

 

What can we learn about our witness of Christ to the world from these verses? What images do we see? Perhaps we see common sense, after all, when a person is weighted down by anxiety it just makes sense that an encouraging word will lift that person up – but as true as that is, is there more?

 

Can we see our Lord Jesus Christ in these verses? Consider Isaiah 9:6, “For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; and the government will rest on His shoulders; and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.”

 

Jesus, the Messiah, is so much a wonderful counselor that one of His names is Wonderful Counselor, peace is such a characteristic of who He is and His work of salvation that one of His names is Prince of Peace.

 

Consider that Paul says that our feet ought to shod “with the preparation of the Gospel of peace” (Eph. 6:15).

 

Notice in Proverbs 12:20 that “deceit” is contrasted with “peace.” We might logically think that deceit would be contrasted with “truth,” but it isn’t in this verse. We do see such a contrast in Proverbs 12:22, “Lying lips are an abomination to Yahweh, but those who deal faithfully are His delight,” and this ought to remind us that when we witness to the truth that God is delighted with us, while if our words are otherwise we ought to beware. 

And let’s remember that lying lips are not confined to what we might think are egregious false teachings, lying lips can be simple statements that allow us to go along to get along, to avoid the challenge of the Gospel and the truth – lying lips need not be what we think are deep dark nefarious statements. The fact is that lying lips probably seem innocuous more times than not, harmless we might think – but is it ever harmless to go along to get along? Is it ever harmless not to tell people the truth, but rather to act as if we agree with them when the Bread of Life lives within us?

 

Paul writes that we have been given the “ministry of reconciliation” and that our appeal to others is to “be reconciled to God” (2 Cor. 5:18 – 21). The glory of this peace with God is described by Paul in Romans 5:1 – 2:

 

“Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God.” (See the entire passage of Romans 5:1 – 11).

 

We are to be God’s ambassadors of reconciliation (2 Cor. 5:20), giving others the Gospel of Peace coming from the Prince of Peace – with Christ Jesus we are counsellors of peace – and as we share the Prince of Peace we will have joy in Him.

 

The “good word” of Proverbs 12:25 is, of course, the Gospel of Jesus Christ – there is no other Good Word. It is in Jesus Christ that we find “all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col. 2:3), and it is Jesus Christ who is our “wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, so that, just as it is written, ‘Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord.’” (1 Cor. 1:30 – 31).

 

We are not talking about a worldview, nor are we talking about positive thinking, nor are we talking about some esoteric and hidden knowledge available only to an elite; we are talking about God of God, the One who became flesh and lived among us, dying for us, rising for us, and coming to live within us as we confess Him as Lord, believing in our hearts that God raised Him, Jesus Christ, from the dead, repenting of our sins and old way of life, taking up our cross and following Him – surrendering our lives to Him in obedient discipleship. (John 1:1 – 18; Romans 10:5 – 13; Mark 8:34 – 38; Ephesians 2:1 – 11; Titus 3:3 – 7).

 

O dear friends, people need Jesus – they don’t need anything else – He alone is the Good News, He alone is the encouraging Word, He alone is the “Good Word” who can eternally make a heart glad. Who will confess Him to the world? Who will share Him with others?

 

Proverbs 12:26 reminds us of 11:9, will we be righteous guides to our neighbors or will we lead them astray? Does not silence constitute acquiescence? If our neighbors are dying and we have the antidote do we not have a responsibility to offer them life in Christ? Is it not, at the end of the day, at the end of life, wicked to substitute something else for Jesus and the Gospel?

 

Is a worldview, including a purported Christian worldview, a substitute for Jesus?

 

Is positive thinking a substitute for Jesus?

 

Is a political agenda, as moral and ethical as we might consider it, a substitute for Jesus?

 

Is a religious tradition with its, no doubt, many fine distinctives a substitute for Jesus?

 

How many tabernacles are we trying to build on the Mount, when the Father is saying again and again, “This is My Beloved Son, hear Him!”? (Matthew 17:1 – 8).

 

May we be as the disciples on the Mount, who “Lifting up their eyes, they saw no one except Jesus Himself alone.”