Proverbs 16:8-11 RA When Injustice Receives Justice

Bragging On Jesus

Proverbs In 365 Devotions For more go to braggingonjesus.com Proverbs 16:8 Better is a little with righteousness than great revenues with injustice. 9 The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps. 10 An oracle is on the lips of a king; his mouth does not sin in judgment. 11 A just balance and scales are the Lord’s; all the weights in the bag are his work. When Injustice Receives Justice R Aylor Verse 8 is interesting to me… It starts out: Better is a little with righteousness than… and then I would expect it to say something like… great riches with wickedness… but instead Solomon says: Better is a little with righteousness than great revenues with injustice. And so he highlights one of the attributes of wickedness which he seems to want us to focus in on… that is injustice. Injustice takes advantage of and uses others… many times its those who cannot stand up or defend themselves. Its those who don’t have a legal course of action to pursue through the courts… The laws are stacked against them. Those who are treated unjustly many times throughout history have endured great and horrific troubles… But here Solomon is saying… these people who treat others unjustly for their own gain are worse off than those who practice righteousness and have little… I wonder why that might be… Lets continue with verse 9 of the text… 9 The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps. In chapter 15 how the heart is linked to the actions we take in the body… But here Solomon says the heart plans but it is the Lord who establishes his steps. Can both be right? Yes! A wicked unjust mans heart plans and as we just read he can receive great revenues with his injustice… But lets think about this mans heart that motivated his injustice to take advantage of others? What was the root of his hearts desire? He wanted happiness and satisfaction from his gain. Did the Lord establish desires for fulfillment? No. But the Lord did establish his steps didn’t he?… He made sure his wicked steps did not bring him satisfaction. The man planed for his own exaltation but the Lord established his steps for his own glory to prove that his wickedness would not bring him true joy. We finish up today's devotion with verse 10 and 11: 10 An oracle is on the lips of a king; his mouth does not sin in judgment. 11 A just balance and scales are the Lord’s; all the weights in the bag are his work. Of course God had made Solomon king and he had the last word from the standpoint of the people. They had to abide by his judgments. This points us to the King of every king… the one who always judges family with righteousness and justice… and that is Jesus. He created all the weights in the bag… he makes the rules… Psalm 115:3 Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases. So think back to the man who practices injustice in today's text. Although he was unjust to others he will be judged justly by God. This is not something for him to look forward to. I think we can learn this from today's passage: Even if we have very little, it truly is better to have the righteousness of Christ working in our life... being full of joy and loving others and sharing the good news of his forgiveness and peace… That is much better than great revenues with injustice… not only in the present, but in eternity.