Being Saved From The Ways of Wicked Men - Part 1 - Proverbs 2:12-15

Proverbs 2:12-15 ESV

Wisdom will save you from the ways of wicked men, from men whose words are perverse, who leave the straight paths to walk in dark ways, who delight in doing wrong and rejoice in the perverseness of evil, whose paths are crooked and who are devious in their ways.

There are two main ideas presented here. One is that there are wicked men. The other is that they have bad ways that we need to be saved from. Wisdom, in these proverbs, is the personification of God. But more specifically, I would say that wisdom is a person's conscience that has been filled up with the truth of God, so that when temptations come along, decisions can be made that will keep us from falling into the traps of Satan. Since wicked men are often the tools Satan uses to try to tempt us, these verses tell us how to identify these men. Of course, this doesn't exclude women.

In this post, I'm just going to take a close look at the first bit of advice we are given.

Godly wisdom will protect us "from men whose words are perverse"

    "Perverse" is defined as that which is generally wicked or corrupt. There is no reason to place any other shade of meaning to that word here in this context. So, I would say we are being warned of the dangerous influence of those whose speech is laced with such things as profanity, bitterness, anger, deceit or impropriety. 

     I don't know about you, but I have experienced this happen in my own life. There have been times when I have overheard someone speaking "perversely",  and it has influenced how I began thinking and talking. Let's face it, perverse talk is fun (in a "feed your flesh" sort of way). And it's easy to fall into. As Christians, if we don't discipline ourselves to purity in our speech, then we will kill our witness for Christ. Even worse, if you claim to follow Christ, yet what goes in your mind and comes out of your mouth is perverse things, it screams out "hypocrite!"

     This proverb has given us a way to combat this temptation. In addition to the daily discipline of saturating our minds with biblical teaching, we are to do all we can to STAY AWAY from all things (people, movies, TV shows, music, games, and books) that use or contain perverse speech. 

     I know that most people will dismiss this advice. I know that many would consider the application that I have drawn from this passage to be "extreme" and unnecessary. However, I stand confident, that when God "speaks" through His Word as plainly as it is here, I can know that it is His will for my life. My crusade isn't against movies and TV, for simply striving for moral excellence cannot and has not ever saved anyone's soul. My crusade is to encourage others, as well as myself, to follow Jesus. Applying and obeying scripture is a means to that end.

PART 2 can be found here.