What Those Who Seek God Realize

[Proverbs 28:1-7]

Everyone, what do you realize about yourselves? Is the Holy Spirit, who dwells within you, giving you understanding about yourselves through the Word of God? In my case, the Holy Spirit often uses God’s Word to help me realize my own foolishness. Therefore, I personally cling to James 1:5, which says, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given to him,” and I seek wisdom from God. Along with this, for several years now, I have been meditating on the wisdom books of the Bible every Wednesday during prayer meetings. But the more I meditate on the wisdom books, the more I find my foolishness exposed. So I have no choice but to continue asking God for wisdom. How about you?

While preparing this message, I went to my personal blog and searched for the word “realization” (깨달음). I found a post I wrote on April 2, 2006, and read it. That post was about a realization God gave me while I was preaching the Word of God during a Korean Sunday worship service. At that time, I preached a sermon titled “The God of Joseph” based on Acts 7:9-16, and I proclaimed that the God of Joseph is first of all “the God who is with him.” In that sermon, I received a precious realization: the prosperity mentioned in Genesis 39:2, 3, and 23—“God was with Joseph and made him prosper in everything”—means that the prosperity in the Bible is not so much a change in Joseph’s circumstances but God’s presence with him. Joseph’s environment was that of a servant to Potiphar, captain of the Egyptian army (verses 2-3), and later he was falsely accused and imprisoned (verse 23). We would not typically consider Joseph prosperous under those conditions. We tend to think of prosperity as the resolution of problems or a change in circumstances that favor us, and then we say God has blessed us with prosperity. But the Bible says that God made Joseph prosper in everything because He was with him. In other words, the prosperity spoken of in the Bible is God’s presence with us.

Friends, what have you realized in the past or are realizing now? What realization is God giving you? Proverbs 28:5 says, “Evil men do not understand justice, but those who seek the Lord understand all things.” Based on this verse, under the title “What Those Who Seek God Realize,” I want to meditate on four things that those who truly seek God realize and receive lessons from.

First, those who seek God realize that the righteous are bold.

Look at Proverbs 28:1: “The wicked flee though no one pursues, but the righteous are as bold as a lion.” (Contemporary English Version: “The wicked run away even when no one is chasing them, but the righteous are bold like lions.”) I still can’t forget that time. While teaching the Gospel of John to local workers in a mission field where an elder pastor was present, after teaching John 16:33, the police and others suddenly came in. I vividly remember that tense situation. It was a bit scary, but the verse that came to my mind was John 16:33, the last thing I had taught them: “I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” As I thought about this, I said to myself, “I taught them ‘In this world you will have trouble, but take heart! I have overcome the world,’ so how can I be afraid? I must be bold.” I still remember deciding to act boldly. I pretended to be asleep under the blanket in my room when the police came in. I thought, “If I show them my U.S. passport and explain in English that I am a U.S. citizen, maybe they will leave.” But that actually caused more trouble, and I was even told to go to the police station. Haha.

When we look at today’s text, Proverbs 28:1, the author of Proverbs says, “The wicked flee though no one pursues, but the righteous are as bold as a lion.” What does this mean? Right now, the author of Proverbs is contrasting the “wicked” and the “righteous.” In particular, he contrasts the fleeing of the wicked with the boldness of the righteous.

Friends, why do the wicked flee? Why do they flee when no one is pursuing them? Could it be because they have sinned? When we sin, our human instinct is to hide the sin, and because of the penalty (punishment) deserved for the sin, we live in fear and cannot sleep peacefully. That’s why there is a Korean proverb that says, “The one who hits cannot stretch their legs to sleep, but the one who is hit sleeps with their legs stretched out.” I have been hit and slept with my legs stretched out, but I think the person who hit me probably did not sleep so well that night. Haha.

In Leviticus 26:17, we can see a good example of the phrase in the first half of Proverbs 28:1, “The wicked flee though no one pursues.” That good example is the people of Israel at the time of the Exodus, who did not obey God’s word, did not keep all His commandments, and broke God’s covenant (Lev. 26:14-15). What punishment did God bring upon the Israelites then? Look at Leviticus 26:17: “I will set my face against you so that you will be defeated by your enemies; those who hate you will rule over you, and you will flee even though no one is pursuing you.” One of God’s punishments was that the Israelites who sinned against Him would flee even if no one pursued them. Verse 36 says: “And as for those left alive, I will make their hearts so fearful in the lands of their enemies that they will lose all courage; they will run as though fleeing from the sword and they will fall, even though no one is chasing them” (Contemporary English Version). Ultimately, the reason the sinful Israelites “fled like someone escaping the sword at the sound of leaves rustling in the wind” was that God weakened their hearts with continual fear. Therefore, the wicked flee even when no one pursues.

But the righteous are bold as a lion (Prov. 28:1). Why? Why can the righteous be bold like a lion? It is because the righteous live obeying God’s word. Therefore, since the righteous have no sin, they have a clear conscience and do not need to flee in fear like the wicked. In other words, the righteous with a clean conscience are bold like a lion. Friends, for us to be bold like a lion, we must have a clean conscience. To do that, we must obey God’s word. If we disobey God’s word and sin like the Israelites in the Exodus, God will weaken our hearts with continual fear, causing us to be easily startled and flee even when no one pursues us. Therefore, we must obey God’s word and strive, like the Apostle Paul, “to have always a clear conscience before God and man” (Acts 24:16). Also, we must “serve God with a clear conscience in everything” (Acts 23:1). When we do this, by God’s grace, believing in Jesus and being justified, we will be able to be bold like a lion.

Dr. Park Yoon-sun says there are two reasons why we Christians become bold:
(1) It is not because we feel our own strength that we become bold, but rather because we feel our own weakness. When we feel our weakness and trust only in God, we obtain righteousness and God gives us strength. Therefore, the Apostle Paul confessed in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10, “My power is made perfect in weakness,” and “When I am weak, then I am strong.” We Christians become strong and bold because we know our weakness and fully trust in the Lord.
(2) We Christians become strong and bold because we love God. Look at 1 John 4:16-17: “So we have come to know and to believe the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment...” God is with us Christians who love Him (John 14:21, 23) and makes us bold.

We should be Christians who seek God. And Christians who seek God realize and know that the righteous are bold like lions but the wicked flee even when no one pursues them. I pray that all of us, when weak, will love the God who strengthens us, obey God’s word, strive to always have a clear conscience, and so live boldly.

Secondly, those who seek God understand that a nation will maintain long-lasting stability when it has wise and knowledgeable leaders.

While living on this American soil, though it may be insufficient, we are praying for our beloved homeland, the Republic of Korea, and for the United States. When we pray, especially, we cannot help but pray for the leaders of these two countries. The reason is that the role of a president of a nation is extremely important. Personally, as a senior pastor of a church, I believe that what is most important for a president, the leader of a country, is character. Therefore, I pray to God for the change of my own character, especially asking Him to help me imitate the humble heart of Jesus. Perhaps because of this, whether in America or Korea, what we consider most important when choosing a president is that person's character. And regarding that character, I look at how sincere the person is. If a presidential candidate makes various promises to the citizens during election season but later, after becoming president, does not keep those promises, from the citizens’ standpoint, they will inevitably doubt that person's sincerity. However, in my personal opinion, even before then, I think it is possible to somewhat know whether a presidential candidate is a truthful person or someone who lies shamelessly and continuously. Especially when we hear stories about the candidate through the news, I believe each of us can judge, at least to some degree, that person's character in our own way.

Besides sincerity, when we often pray for our country's president and his leadership, we pray that they become leaders who fear God. The reason is that we believe when they are wise leaders who fear God, they can govern the country wisely and according to God's will. However, the reality we see—whether in America or Korea—is that sometimes the wisdom of fearing God is not visible in the president (at least from our perspective), and sometimes we question whether their character is truly sincere. At such times, we can be quite disappointed. Even more disappointing is the reality that we often see politicians fighting, arguing, blaming each other, and other such behavior through the news, which often makes us sigh. Why can't they be united? Why do factions form that criticize and fight each other? How, then, can they take care of the people's livelihood and serve the citizens? It seems this even causes us to lose hope.

Look at Proverbs 28:2: “When there is sin in the land, the rulers are many, but by a man of understanding and knowledge the state will be prolonged” (Modern Korean Bible). [“When there is sin in a country, though rulers may be many, by the wise and knowledgeable it will endure long.”] I divided this verse into two parts to think about it:

(1) “When there is sin in the land, the government changes frequently” (verse 2).
What kind of sins can exist in a country? Not only corruption but all lies and evil deeds. The more leaders who commit such sins there are, what happens to that country? Among them, Proverbs 28:3 talks about “a ruler who oppresses the poor” (Modern Korean Bible). This ruler is described as “a poor man who oppresses the poor” in a revised translation, meaning that the ruler was once poor himself. Nevertheless, having become a ruler, he should understand and empathize with the poor and help them, but instead, he oppresses them. Such a person is definitely not “a man of understanding and knowledge,” as mentioned in verse 2 (Modern Korean Bible). He is a foolish leader. The latter half of verse 3 says such a leader “is like a roaring flood that leaves no grain” (Modern Korean Bible) or “like a violent rain that sweeps away crops.” Sometimes, when we watch Korean news, we see interviews with farmers whose crops were destroyed by heavy rain. Saying that a ruler who oppresses the poor is like a destructive flood ruining crops is something I cannot disagree with. If there are many such leaders in a country, how much suffering will the common people endure?

The Revised Korean Bible translates Proverbs 28:2 as: “When there is sin in the land, though there are many rulers…” I compared this translation with the Modern Korean Bible’s “When there is sin in the land, the government changes frequently.” I think the meanings are similar. Whether it says many rulers or frequent government changes, both indicate instability in the country caused by sin. Moreover, when there is sin, how divided and factionalized will the country's leadership become, fighting amongst themselves? Dr. Park Yoon Sun said, “The existence of many factions in a country is God’s punishment for the sins that have already existed in that country.” As an example, he cited the division of Israel into north and south after King Solomon because of his idolatry, which is recorded in 1 Kings chapters 11 and 12. The Bible actually states twice that Israel’s division was a punishment from God (1 Kings 12:15, 24). Dr. Park said that whenever a country experiences civil strife or factions that disrupt peace, all people, including leaders, must deeply reflect on and repent of their country’s sins. What do you think about Dr. Park’s words? Considering the divided homeland and America as we see today, don’t you think we all should deeply reflect on our country’s sins and repent before God? I recall Jesus’s words in Matthew 12:25: “Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand” (Modern Korean Bible). If families, churches, or even a nation fight and divide, how can they stand firm? Families, churches, or nations divided by conflict can never stand firm. Therefore, as Proverbs 28:2 says, “When there is sin in the land, the government changes frequently.” And if the government changes frequently, the country cannot stand firm because it is divided by sin. A divided country can never be stable. As a result, citizens inevitably feel insecure and, amid endless political factional fights, become mentally and physically exhausted, discouraged, and frustrated.

(2) “When there is a wise and knowledgeable leader, the country maintains stability for a long time” (Proverbs 28:2).

This verse is translated in the Revised Version as: “… through a man of understanding and knowledge, it continues long.” When we think about this verse—that if a country's leader is wise (understanding) and knowledgeable, the nation will maintain stability for a long time—do we, as citizens, want such a leader to become our country's president so that the country can quickly regain stability? How wonderful it would be if not only the president but all those who assist him would lead the country with the understanding (wisdom) and knowledge given by God. But on the other hand, what if the president or his assistants lack knowledge and wisdom and, in their foolishness, seek only to satisfy their own selfish desires? What will happen to the country then? Therefore, when we pray for our leaders, we must pray that God grants them understanding (wisdom) and knowledge. In short, when we pray for our national leaders, we should pray that God gives them wisdom.

Once, focusing on Proverbs 20:26-30, we received five lessons from God under the title “The Wise King.” Let us briefly review them:

(a) The wise king distinguishes and separates the good from the wicked and then punishes the wicked (verse 26).
What would happen if the president of a country could not distinguish between good and evil? What if evil people were placed in important government positions? King Solomon asked God for wisdom to judge God’s people and to discern between good and evil (1 Kings 3:11). When we pray for our president, we should ask for the wisdom to discern good and evil, like Solomon did. Then the president will govern the country well and establish order and justice.

(b) The wise king governs the country with a good conscience before God (Proverbs 20:27).
The wise king, as a righteous man with a good conscience, exposes the darkness of evildoers and investigates their innermost hearts. He punishes the wicked with justice, thus extinguishing the light of the evildoers. In other words, the wise king will strive to have a clear conscience before God and govern the country conscientiously. Therefore, the light of the righteous will shine brightly, and the light of the wicked will be extinguished.

(c) The wise king protects himself with mercy and truth (verse 28).
The wise king not only secures his throne by mercy and truth but also loves his people and faithfully keeps his promises to them. Therefore, the wise king protects himself and strengthens his throne.

(d) The wise king has strength and wisdom (verse 29).
In other words, the wise king has not only power but also wisdom gained through experience.

(e) The wise king disciplines (verse 30).
He disciplines his people by using the rod to eliminate their sins. He does this because he knows that “the rod penetrates deeply.” He distinguishes and separates the good and the wicked and punishes the wicked with justice. Therefore, he protects his citizens and establishes order in the country.

Don’t you want our president to be this kind of wise leader? Christians who seek God realize that when a leader with understanding and wisdom is appointed president, the country maintains stability for a long time. Moreover, Christians who seek God know that if there is sin in the country—especially among the president, his advisors, or leaders—that government will not last long and will inevitably be replaced. Therefore, we must seek God, and in doing so, we must pray that our national leaders receive the understanding and knowledge that God grants.

Thirdly, those who seek God realize that it is better to act faithfully while poor than to act crookedly while rich.

Do you think it is more important to be wealthy or to act with integrity (honesty)? If no matter how honestly you work, you cannot become rich, what would you do? Would you abandon honesty and try to become rich by speaking and acting deceitfully? The Bible teaches us that being rich or poor is not what matters most, but rather whether one acts sincerely and wisely. Look at Proverbs 19:1: “Better is the poor who walks in his integrity than one who is perverse in his lips and is a fool” (Modern Korean Bible). Also, Ecclesiastes 4:13 says: “Better is a poor and wise youth than an old and foolish king who does not know how to receive admonition.” These verses teach us that the Bible considers a poor but wise person who lives sincerely better than a fool who is deceitful and does not accept correction. This shows how important sincerity and wisdom are.

Look at Proverbs 28:6: “Better is the poor who walks in his integrity than one who is perverse and rich” [(Modern Korean Bible) “Better is the poor who lives honestly than a deceitful rich man”]. In the original Hebrew, this can be rendered as “The poor who acts sincerely is better than the rich who deceives in two ways” (Park Yoon-sun). Here, “deceives in two ways” means “he actually acts wickedly while pretending to go the good path” (Park Yoon-sun). So, what is the evil way that the rich who walk in two ways take? As stated in Proverbs 28:3, one of the evil acts of the rich who walk in two ways is “oppressing the poor.” A more specific example is found in James 2:6: “But you have dishonored the poor. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you and drag you into court?” (Modern Korean Bible). The rich who walk in two ways not only despise the poor but also oppress them, harass them, and even drag them to court, causing harm. Can you imagine? On the outside, they appear to do good deeds before people, but behind their backs, they cleverly oppress the poor. This is exactly what Proverbs 28:6 means by “the rich who act perversely,” that is, the rich who walk in two ways.

What do you think about the rich who walk in two ways? If you discovered that although they seem to do many good deeds before people, in reality they secretly commit evil deeds to amass wealth, how would you respond? The Bible says that a poor person who walks sincerely is better than such people. The lesson it gives us is that more than wealth or poverty, what matters more is whether we act sincerely or hypocritically deceive people’s eyes and act falsely. Those who seek God realize this truth. Moreover, Christians who seek God understand this truth and strive to live sincerely and honestly even if they are poor.

We should strive to be sincere and honest people rather than just trying to become rich. We must not become the rich who walk in two ways. We must not be the rich who pretend to walk the good path before people but actually walk the evil path. Seeking God and with the wisdom God gives, we must understand the word of God that “the poor who walks sincerely is better than the rich who acts perversely.” Proverbs 19:22 (New Korean Translation) says: “What is desired in a man is loyalty; better to be poor than a liar.” I pray that we become people who act with the integrity and sincerity God requires of us.

Lastly, the fourth thing those who seek God realize is that those who keep the law are wise people.

What kind of person do you think a “legalist” is? Probably, as Christians, when we hear “legalist,” we think of the Pharisees mentioned in the Gospels of the New Testament. And when we think of them, we might say that the Pharisees were legalists because they strictly kept the law. However, as we already know, the law they strictly kept was not God’s law but human traditions. How do we know this? Because Jesus said to the Pharisees, “Why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?” (Matthew 15:3). In other words, Jesus pointed out that the Pharisees broke God’s commandments to keep the traditions of the elders. From this, we can say that the Pharisees, whom we consider legalists, were not strictly keeping God’s law but were strictly keeping man-made laws (commandments) in their own way.

Another thing we learn about these legalistic Pharisees from Jesus’ words is that He called them “hypocrites” (Matthew 7:5, 15:7; Luke 6:42, 12:56, etc.). For example, Matthew 23:27 (Contemporary Bible) says: “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead bones and everything unclean.” In Jesus’ view, the Pharisees, who were legalists, were hypocrites—like whitewashed tombs that looked beautiful on the outside but were full of dead bones and uncleanness inside.

The apostle Paul said in Acts 23:3: “God will strike you, you whitewashed wall! Are you sitting to judge me according to the law, yet you yourself violate the law by ordering me to be struck?” (Contemporary Bible). In fact, the Pharisees boasted about the law (Romans 2:23) and taught others but did not teach themselves (verse 21). For example, they told others, “Do not steal,” while they themselves stole (verse 21). So, it is inevitable that we have a negative view of the Pharisees as “legalists.”

Perhaps that is why we might even have a not-so-positive view of the “law.” Especially because when we think of “law,” we think of the Old Covenant era, the Old Testament, and when Jesus came in the New Covenant era—the New Testament—we might think it is not necessary to strictly keep the law. For example, in the New Testament, Jesus replaced Moses’ Ten Commandments with the “twofold commandment” to love God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind, and to love your neighbor as yourself (Luke 10:27). Because of this, some tend not to emphasize the Ten Commandments anymore (even ignore them) and try to keep only Jesus’ twofold commandment.

However, this is a mistaken, unbalanced idea. We must keep and practice both Moses’ Ten Commandments from the Old Testament and Jesus’ twofold commandment. Of course, this does not mean that we must keep all the laws in the Old Testament even now. Some laws still need to be kept (continuity), while others no longer need to be kept (discontinuity). For example, laws like the Ten Commandments in the Old Testament are still ones we must try to keep strictly, but some food-related laws in the Old Testament no longer need to be observed.

One thing we must clearly understand is the “function of the law.” Calvin said the law has three functions: (1) The law serves to convict us of sin. (2) The law works alongside our conscience to prevent people from becoming utterly corrupt. (3) The law reveals God’s will so that those saved by faith can please God (according to internet sources).

Look at today’s text, Proverbs 28:7: “The one who keeps the law is a wise son, but the one who associates with gluttons disgraces his father” [(Contemporary Bible) “The one who keeps the law is a wise son, but the one who hangs out with loafers brings shame to his father.”]. What does this mean? First, the “wise son” here refers to one who fears God. How do we know this? Because Proverbs 1:7 says, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge” (here “knowledge” refers to “wisdom”).

And this wise person who fears God does not associate with “gluttons” who disgrace their father (28:7). Here, “gluttons” refers to those who are reckless and squander their wealth, like the prodigal son in the third parable Jesus told in Luke 15 (Proverbs 23:20-21) (Park Yoon-sun). The wise person who fears God does not associate with such reckless people because he hates evil. In other words, the wise person knows that fearing God means hating evil (8:13), so he does not associate with those who recklessly squander their wealth like the prodigal son.

Proverbs 3:7 says: “Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and turn away from evil.” And Job 28:28 says: “…And to fear the LORD is wisdom, and to shun evil is understanding.” True wisdom in God’s eyes is to fear Him and turn away from evil.

Therefore, the wise son in Proverbs 28:7 not only refrains from associating with the “gluttons” who squander their wealth but also shuns such people.

So, how can we obtain this heavenly wisdom? Of course, first we must hold onto the promise in James 1:5 and ask God for wisdom. Look at James 1:5 in the Bible: “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you” (Contemporary Bible). When we truly feel that we lack wisdom, we must continue to ask God, who does not reproach us and gives generously, for wisdom. But we must not stop here. What should we do? As Proverbs 28:7 (first half) says, we must keep the law (“the one who keeps the law”). In other words, it is not enough just to ask God for wisdom; we must also obey and practice God’s law. The reason is that when we obey the law, we become wise.

So Moses said to the Israelites at the time of the Exodus: “You shall keep and do them, for that is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people’” [(Contemporary Bible) “Keep all these laws well. Then you will make a name for yourselves among other nations for your wisdom and understanding. When they hear about all these laws, they will marvel and say, ‘Indeed, the people of Israel are a nation of great wisdom and understanding!’”] (Deuteronomy 4:6). According to this, we must obey the law. When we do so, the people of the world will look at us and say, “Indeed, Christians are people of great wisdom and understanding.”

Then Moses goes on to the next verse, Deuteronomy 4:7, and says: “For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the LORD our God is to us whenever we call upon him?” [(Contemporary Bible) “What nation has a god so close to them as our God, the LORD, who is near to us whenever we pray?”]. When I think about these two verses (Deuteronomy 4:6-7), I am once again reminded that what is important for God’s people is obedience to the Word and prayer. And regarding wisdom, we learn again that not only should we ask God for wisdom, but we must keep and obey His Word.

Those who become wise by keeping the law fear God and oppose the wicked. Look at Proverbs 28:4: “Those who forsake the law praise the wicked, but those who keep the law oppose them.” How can one who keeps the law praise the wicked? How can one who obeys God’s law praise those who do evil by breaking it? The Bible clearly says that those who keep the law oppose the wicked. Why is that? Because, as Proverbs 28:5 says, the wise who keep the law understand justice. In other words, the wise who seek God (verse 5) and keep the law (verse 7) understand the justice that the wicked do not, and so they oppose the wicked (verse 4). In summary, the wise who fear God practice justice.

Friends, those who seek God realize that those who keep the law are wise people. And they also know that the wise hate evil and oppose the wicked because they fear God. Therefore, a wise Christian who keeps the law does not associate with a prodigal who wastes his wealth (verse 7), because the wise understand that this dishonors the Father God (verse 7).

I want to conclude this meditation. Personally, I have a joy that God graciously gives me—the joy of opening the Bible, reading and meditating on God’s Word, and receiving precious insights from the Holy Spirit. But the problem is that the joy I experience by obeying and practicing the Word (obedience) is far greater than the joy of merely understanding the Word.

Today, based on Proverbs 28:1-7, under the title “What those who seek God understand,” we reflected on four things that those who seek God understand. First, those who seek God understand that the righteous are bold. Second, they understand that when there are wise and knowledgeable leaders, a nation remains stable for a long time. Third, they understand that it is better to act faithfully even in poverty than to act crookedly in wealth. Fourth, they understand that those who keep the law are wise people.