- Proverbs 1:16-20
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- Prov 1:16 (KJB)
- For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood.
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- If you notice the theme in both phrases in this verse, it is that of
quickly moving toward the evil and then escalating to violence to the point
of murder. These people just don’t walk toward the evil, they are so
reprobate that they run toward the evil. We can also look at this in another
light, that some people are so given to evil works, they look for evil works
which they can partake in. Their dead nature causes them to seek the ways of
the world and to walk in harmony with the ways of the world is to walk in
evil since Satan is the god of this world.
(1 John 2:15 KJV) Love not the world, neither
the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love
of the Father is not in him. This is why John gave
the admonition to the believer that our love is not to be focused on the
world nor the ways of the world. Those who love and live in the ways of the
world give evidence of the fact that they are unsaved. No believer should
ever take on the life of the unsaved.
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- Prov 1:17 (KJB)
- Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird.
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- (Isa 29:15 KJV) Woe unto them that seek
deep to hide their counsel from the LORD, and their works are in the dark,
and they say, Who seeth us? and who knoweth us?
The unbelievers think that they are so smart and they will never get caught
in their evil pursuits. Proverbs 1:17 states that if you are trying to
capture a bird but you are setting the trap when they are all watching, it
will be an exercise in futility for even a bird has enough intelligence to
know when a trap is being set. The evil workers believe their plans are
infallible and yet, by their own works, they ensnare themselves too as we
will see in the next verse. It is impossible to plan any evil work without
the Lord seeing it as we read in Isaiah 29:15.
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- Prov 1:18 (KJB)
- And they lay wait for their own blood; they lurk privily for
their own lives.
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- If there is one true fact that evil workers never factor into their own
plans is the reality of their plans backfiring. They wait to pounce on
others and to hurt others but while they are doing this, they are setting up
the destruction of their own eternal souls. Sometimes they will lose their
physical lives in the pursuit of ill-gotten gain but if they get away with
it and never see a day in prison, they will still have to give an account at
the White Throne Judgment Seat of Christ and if they died without a Savior,
they will be cast into eternal hell. They will then realize that all the
days of their evil activities were only a set up for their own destruction.
(Heb 4:13 KJV) Neither is there any
creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked
and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.
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- Prov 1:19 (KJB)
- So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain;
which taketh away the life of the owners thereof.
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- Ways - Path, way, or lifestyle
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- Those who choose to engage in the lifestyle of greed will find that
their entire life will be consumed in the gathering and maintaining of the
ill-gotten gain. Once they get the taste of this lifestyle, they must
dedicate their entire life to maintaining it. Pretty soon they turn around
and the gray hairs are setting in and realized they have wasted their whole
life in evil pursuits and they did not really enjoy it. Not only can someone
dedicate their whole life to it, they may even lose their own life as others
who live the same lifestyle will eye their goods and attempt to take them as
they did.
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- Prov 1:20 (KJB)
- Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets:
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- Wisdom is not only found within the confines of a church but wisdom is
all around us and is freely available to anyone who heeds its call. It comes
through teachers and wise people and most of all through the experience of
life. The primary source of true wisdom is found in the Scriptures because
it comes from the mind of God. When we saturate ourselves with the teachings
of Scripture, we will not be snared into following the pernicious ways of
the world because we will spot the traps, just as the birds spot the trap.
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