“He who diligently seeks good seeks favor and grace, But he who seeks evil, evil will come to him.”

Proverbs 11:27 AMP

There is a consistent theme throughout the book of Proverbs. These themes center around the development and practice of an acceptable moral code. I a day and age where most people have or ascribe to no moral code, the Scriptures stand in stark contract. Like bright colors splashed across a black background, the book of Proverbs brings us face-to-face with the reality of the sin nature in our lives! Verse 27 begins with the motivating reason for the activity. The Hebrew word “diligently” is actually the word “earnestly.” While both are accurate translations, earnestly brings with it the flavor of “having a strong motivating desire for something with a focus on having a relationship with that object.” Think about a relation that you have experienced. The desire to be with that person, to do good for that person, and to sacrifice for that person is what motivated you to remain committed even during difficult times. The verse directs us now to the object of this activity, “good.”

The word good here is the Hebrew word meaning “pertaining to the moral opposite of evil.” It is also translated “pertaining to having good values.” If that is the case, then we must define how to measure those good and moral values. The Psalmists wrote,

“The LORD is the portion of my inheritance, my cup [He is all I need]; You support my lot. 6The [boundary] lines [of the land] have fallen for me in pleasant places; Indeed, my heritage is beautiful to me.”

Psalms 16:5-6 AMP

I love this verse! It speaks exactly the meaning of the verse we are looking at in Proverbs. God has given us the moral guideline by which man should conduct himself. God’s boundaries are always given for our protection which then allows us to live in victory and peace. Many today make God out to be a “kill-joy” and that He want to do everything to keep us from enjoying this life. Nothing could be further from the truth! The Scripture clear defines the reason for God’s actions in our lives;

“I am the Door; anyone who enters through Me will be saved [and will live forever], and will go in and out [freely], and find pasture (spiritual security). 10The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it in abundance [to the full, till it overflows].” John 10:9-10 AMP

WOW! Can it be any clearer? Jesus came to free us from the death that sin an Satan purposed for our eternity! Look at those words of Jesus again, “have life,” “to the full,” “till it overflows.” That doesn’t sound like a restriction on life but rather a release to live and proper without worrying about the wolf lurking outside our door! Now the opposite of that is the practice seeking evil. The word evil is the exact opposite of the word good. We then can determine that rejecting God’s moral code is the practice of evil. The end result of that path is death and destruction. Literally the verse says that those will be “paid in full” for their investment in evil.

Have the lines of God’s Word fallen in a pleasant place in your life? Do you go to God’s Word with a burning, insatiable desire to know His way? Are you daily putting into practice the ways of His Kingdom? I love the straightforwardness of James,

“But prove yourselves doers of the word [actively and continually obeying God’s precepts], and not merely listeners [who hear the word but fail to internalize its meaning], deluding yourselves [by unsound reasoning contrary to the truth]. 23For if anyone only listens to the word without obeying it, he is like a man who looks very carefully at his natural face in a mirror; 24for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he immediately forgets what he looked like. 25But he who looks carefully into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and faithfully abides by it, not having become a [careless] listener who forgets but an active doer [who obeys], he will be blessed and favored by God in what he does [in his life of obedience].”

James 1:22-25

Have a blessed day walking the ways of the Lord! Pastor Ken