God who made everything for His purpose
[Proverbs 16:4-9]
If we look at Ecclesiastes 3:1, the Bible says, “There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven.” What does it mean? It means that there is a time when every purpose will be achieved. Because God works in our individual lives, in the end, God's purpose and God's will will be fulfilled (Wiersbe). King Solomon talks about several times from Ecclesiastes 3:2-8, and I have divided all those times into five. One of them is that there is a time to give birth and a time to die. Look at Ecclesiastes 3:2 – “A time to give birth and a time to die; A time to plant and a time to uproot what is planted.” There are times when we are born, but there are times when we certainly die. In this way, when we speak of the tree of birth and death, there is a time to plant and a time to uproot what is planted. What is important here is God's sovereignty. In other words, under God's sovereignty, people are born, and under God's sovereignty, people also die. Not only man's life but also the life of trees is in God's sovereignty. The important thing is that only the will of the Lord must be done through life and death. In other words, only the glory of the Lord must be revealed through our life and death. Then our lives and deaths will be beautiful. God is the God who makes everything beautiful through our life and death by fulfilling His sovereign will.
If we look at Proverbs 16:4, the Bible says, “The LORD has made everything for its own purpose, Even the wicked for the day of evil.” Focusing on this verse, I would like to find the answer in the Bible by asking three questions under the heading “God who made everything for His purpose”:
First, why doesn’t God judge the proud wicked, but leave them alone?
Look at Proverbs 16:4 – “The LORD has made everything for its own purpose, Even the wicked for the day of evil.” Now, the Bible says that God made all things purposeful, and it says, “Even the wicked for the day of evil.” If so, then is the Bible saying that God the Creator also made evil? Certainly not. How can we say that the good God made evil? In the Bible Psalms 5:4, it says “For You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness; No evil dwells with You.” In other words, God is a God who hates evil (Park). And the Bible says that evil cannot dwell with the holy Lord. Therefore, it is very wrong to say that God also made evil. Then the question we cannot but ask is the “Origin of Evil”. When we say that God made everything but not evil, then we will be forced to ask the question who made evil? Obviously, the Bible Genesis 1:31 says that when God created the heavens and earth and all things, all creation was very good in the sight. But in Genesis 3:1, while all creatures are good in the sight of God, suddenly an evil creature “the serpent” appears. As a result, the serpent seduces Adam and Eve and causes them to sin. How is the power of sin appearing in the good world created by God, and even accelerated, such as the tragedy of Cain murdering his own younger brother Abel? In other words, the question is, where did the demon appearing as the serpent come from?, What is it? and What is the source of this evil? In other words, the question is ‘Since God is the source of good, how did evil originate?’ (Internet) I think this answer is beyond our knowledge. We know from the Bible that an angel in the spiritual world is proud and coveted God's position. As a result the angel was exiled to become Satan who is against God (2 Pet. 2:4, Jude 1:6). That means we don't know what the source of evil is. But what we can clearly see is that evil doesn’t come from God. Then, the question we cannot but ask here is the question, ‘Why didn't God remove the evil from the spiritual world?’ In other words, it is a question why God didn’t judge Satan, the angel who fell from the spiritual world, but allowed the serpent in the Garden of Eden to tempt Adam and Eve after the creation of the heavens and the earth. Indeed, it is a question that cannot be understood by our knowledge. Obviously, when God hates evil and the wicked, there may be a question about why He doesn’t judge the evil and the wicked. In particular, if we look at Proverbs 16:5, the Bible says, “Everyone who is proud in heart is an abomination to the LORD.” Why doesn’t God judge and leave them alone despite hating the proud wicked? Clearly, it is written in the Bible that “The LORD has made everything for its own purpose” (v. 4). What is the purpose of God? This is what Dr. Yoon-sun Park said: ‘God doesn’t make evil. He hates evil (Ps. 5:4). It is the wicked person's own responsibility for the wicked to become evil. However, it is certain that He has neglected the inclination of someone's evil. Here too is His holy will, to reveal the virtue of long-awaiting the repentance of the wicked, and the light of justice in which He finally punishes the wicked (Rom. 2:4-5, 9:17).’ What do you think of this statement?
I remember Ezekiel 33:11 – “"Say to them, 'As I live!' declares the Lord GOD, 'I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live Turn back, turn back from your evil ways! Why then will you die, O house of Israel?” The purpose of God not to judge the proud wicked, but to leave them alone is because He wants them all to repent and return to God. However, the secondary purpose is that if the arrogant wicked don’t repent, God will judge them not only to reveal His justice, but also to save His peole by judging the wicked. A good example is Pharaoh, the proud king of Egypt during the time of Moses. Look at Exodus 14:4 – “Thus I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and he will chase after them; and I will be honored through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD." And they did so.” God used the wicked and proud King Pharaoh to show the glory of God in front of the Red Sea. And that glory of God is God's judgment upon Pharaoh and his soldiers and God's salvation for His people, the Israelties. In other words, God not only showed His justice by destroying the proud King Pharaoh and his army in front of the Red Sea, but also delivered the Israelites from Pharaoh's hand, so that God's covenant love for the Israelites, great grace, and truthfulness revealed. This is the reason why God doesn’t judge the proud wicked, but leaves them alone.
God hates the proud (Prov. 16:5). And the proud wicked will not go unpunished (v. 5). What does it mean? It means that God is a just God who punishes the proud and those who unite with the proud (Park). The just God does not judge the proud and wicked, but leaves them alone, because He is “a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, and one who relents concerning calamity” (Jonah 4:2). It is because He wants all the proud and wicked to repent and return to the Lord. What is the reason? The reason is because God wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth (1 Tim. 2:4). Therefore, as God says in Proverbs 16:6, “By lovingkindness and truth iniquity is atoned for.” In other words, God had compassion on people with His lovingkindness character so that He could benefit from the system of atonement (truth) with the blood of sacrifice (the blood of the redeemer) (Park). As a result, in the midst of judging the proud wicked for sins, God forgave all our sins with the ransom death and shed blood of the only Son Jesus for the redemption of those whom God chose. How, then, should we, who receive this saving grace, live? Proverbs 16:6-7 teach us two things:
(1) We must keep away from evil because we fear God.
Look at Proverbs 16:6b – “… And by the fear of the LORD one keeps away from evil.” We were sinners who deserve to die forever and deserve the judgment of God. But God loved us and forgave all our sins with the blood of the death of His Son on the cross and the ransom of our only Son, Jesus Christ. As those who have received this grace of God, we must fear God. And when we live in the fear of God, we have no choice but to keep away from evil. The Bible Proverbs 8:13 says “The fear of the LORD is to hate evil; Pride and arrogance and the evil way And the perverted mouth, I hate.” We must hate pride, arrogance, evil conduct, and perverse mouth. We must hate evil. We must hate what God hates.
(2) We must live a life that pleases God.
Look at Proverbs 16:7 – “When a man's ways are pleasing to the LORD, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.” How can we please God? When we live according to God's good, perfect and pleasing will (Rom. 12:2), we can please God. In other words, when we live by obeying God's commandments, we can please God. In particular, in the words of Proverbs 16:5-6, the commandments of God that we must obey are 'be humble' (v. 5), 'love others' (v. 6), and 'remain in the truth' (v. 6) and ‘keep away from evil' (v. 6). When we obey these commandments of God, God will make even our enemies to be at peace with us (v. 7).
Second, why does God allow a low income for the righteous and a large income for the unrighteous?
Look at Proverbs 16:8 – “Better is a little with righteousness Than great income with injustice.” This second question also makes us puzzle. It may be hard to understand why God allows the righteous person who believes in Jesus to have a small income, but rather, the unrighteous person who doesn’t believe in Jesus and does evil has a lot of income. When I personally ask this question, the word I think about is Psalms 73. The reason is because the psalmist Asaph saw the prosperity of the wicked and was envious of the the arrogant (v. 3), and his feet came close to stumbling and his steps almost slipped (v. 2). Here, the prosperity of the wicked means that the wicked aren’t only proud and violent (v. 6) because they have no suffering or calamity like others (v. 5), and especially they have more income than their heart could wish (v. 7). When we see the wicked people who are always at peace and rich in wealth (v. 12), not only Asaph the psalmist, but also we may be jealous enough to stumble. Why don't the righteous who believe in Jesus have a lot of income? Of course, we know that not all of the Christians are like this. Some Christians have high incomes. But, in general, many Christians don’t have a lot of income. What is the reason? Dr. Yoon-sun Park said: ‘If a person is to possess righteousness, he isn’t materially abundant. The reason is because he fears God (Prov. 15:16) and doesn’t use his income and accumulate much income to help others. He doesn't want to live luxuriously. But he enjoys satisfaction and happiness in such a life. The reason is because God is with him’ (Park). What do you think of this statement? Now King Solomon contrasts not only “little” income and “great income” in Proverbs 16:8, but also contrasts “righteousness” and “injustice”. What he cares about here is not whether the income is small or great, but whether there is “righteousness” or “injustice”. How this is opposed to our instincts? What we usually value is high and low income. We are more sensitive and interested in it. However, the lesson the Bible teaches us is that we should value whether we have “righteousness” or “injustice” more importantly than whether we have great or little income. That is why King Solomon is saying that even if we have a small income, it is better to have righteousness than to have a lot of income with injustice.
We don’t have to envy the prosperity of the wicked. We don't have to envy the unrighteous for a lot of income. What is the reason? The reason is because “the wealth of the sinner is stored up for the righteous” (Prov. 13:22). What does it mean? It means that the wealth that sinners accumulate will eventually be given to the righteous. Isn't God's work interesting? Isn't it interesting that God lets the unrighteous who loves riches more than God to gather things with greed, and eventually gives all of his wealth to the righteous? This is what Ecclesiastes 6:2 says: “a man to whom God has given riches and wealth and honor so that his soul lacks nothing of all that he desires; yet God has not empowered him to eat from them, for a foreigner enjoys them. This is vanity and a severe affliction.” King Solomon saw evil in this world (6:1), and he said that the evil is heavy upon man (8:6). The evil that is heavy for man is that he has received all the riches and wealth and honor from God so that his soul lacks nothing of all that he desires, but he has not been able to enjoy all of them. Rather, God lets a foreigner to enjoy them. Who is God really making to enjoy all that riches, wealth, and honor? Look at Ecclesiastes 2:26 – “For to a person who is good in His sight He has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, while to the sinner He has given the task of gathering and collecting so that he may give to one who is good in God's sight ….” The Bible says that after God causes sinners to labor and accumulate wealth, in the end, God gives the sinner's wealth to those who are pleased with him and lets him enjoy them. We are forgiven of all our sins by the ransom death of Jesus Christ on the cross. And because of the resurrection of Jesus, we are justified (Rom. 4:25). How should we, who are justified by the merit of Jesus' cross, live?
(1) We should not be envious of the great income of the wicked.
The Bible Proverbs 15:6 says “… trouble is in the income of the wicked.” One of the troubles is that there is turmoil in great wealth (v. 16). In addition, the great income of the wicked can always cause suffering in his conscience (1 Tim. 6:10), and his heart is always dark and inevitably suffers (Mt. 6:23-24) (Park). The great income of the wicked makes themselves to say, “Who is the LORD?” (Prov. 30:9). Therefore, we don’t have to envy the high income of the wicked.
(2) We should hate injustice and love righteousness.
And we must walk the path of righteousness. It is better to walk the path of the righteous, obeying the commandments of God with a small income, than to walk the path of the wicked with a large income. We must hate what is false (13:5) and rejoice in the truth. Our lips must be truthful. The Bible says that “Truthful lips endure forever” (12:19). In addition, our tongues should bring healing (12:18). We should speak a kind word that cheers other up (v. 25). Also, we should use our tongues wisely in order to rescue our neighbors (v. 6), and lead them in the right path (v. 26). Also, we must be diligent (13:4). And we must act righteously (v. 6). Also, we must obey God’s commandments as we fear and respect them (v. 13). We must act wisely. We must show favor to others (v. 15).
Third and last, why is God leading us sovereignly and asking us to make plans?
Look at Proverbs 16:9 – “The mind of man plans his way, But the LORD directs his steps.” Last week, based on Proverbs 16:1–3, we thought about three things under the heading “Commit to the Lord whatever you do”: (1) We must make the plan of the heart. (2) We must check whether the motives of our hearts are right in the sing of the Lord. (3) We must commit our works to the Lord. King Solomon's “The plans of the heart” in Proverbs 16:1 speaks of many plans in our hearts (19:21). However, we must keep in mind that no matter how many plans we have in our hearts, “but it is the LORD's purpose that prevails” (v. 21). In other words, no matter how many plans we make in our hearts, only God's sovereign will stands completely. So King Solomon says in Proverbs 16:9 – “The mind of man plans his way, But the LORD directs his steps.” By believing in this word of God that only God's sovereign will stands completely, we must have the plans of the heart, which is our human responsibility. When I think of God's sovereignty and our human responsibility, I think of Ezekiel 36:37 – “Thus says the Lord GOD, "This also I will let the house of Israel ask Me to do for them: ….” The meaning of this word is that even if God gives us promises and fulfills those promises in His sovereignty, we must ask God for those promises to come true. That doesn't mean that we just need to be still because God sovereignly carries out the words of His promises. Our responsibility is to hold onto the word of God and ask God in faith for Him to fulfill it. In other words, we must bear our human responsibilities.
How, then, should we bear our responsibilities, the plans of the heart? There are three things we can think of:
(1) We must make plans of our hearts by faith.
When we make plans of our hearts, we must trust in God with all our hearts (3:5). We should never lean on our own understanding (v. 5). We must acknowledge God in everything (v. 6). We must acknowledge that the sovereign God even uses the wicked who are against us and oppose us to carry out His sovereign will (v. 4). Therefore, we must commit our works to God (16:3). Then God will accomplish our plans (v. 3). In a word, we who have the plans of our hearts must have believing heart or faith in God. In other words, first of all, the desirable state of heart for the Christian managers is trustfulness.
(2) We must tell God the plans of our hearts through prayer (v. 1).
We must lay down our plans before God and pray for God's sovereign will to be fulfilled. The desirable state of our hearts in praying for God’s will to be done in this way is humility. In other words, we must have a humble heart. And we must act humbly with humble heart. The reason is because God hates those who are proud of their hearts (16:5). Therefore, we should not only pray to God, but also “consult” with many “many counselors” (15:22). In other words, the humble Christians not only pray to Jesus Christ, our true counselor, but also consult with seniors of faith and seek guidance from them. And the humble Christians humbly listen to their advice and rebuke.
(3) The desirable state of our hearts is wisdom.
We Christians who have the plans of the heart must have a wise heart. And the wise-hearted Christians look at themselves with “God's perspective” rather than their own point of view (v. 2) or others' point of view (v. 25). That is, the wise Christians know that God weights the motives (v. 2). Even though their ways are clean in their own sight (v. 2), the wise Christians know that they must rely on the fact that in the sight of God their sins have been atonement by God’s lovingkindness and truth (v. 6). Therefore, the wise Christians keep away from evil by the fear of God (v. 6). In other words, they go from wisdom, the desirable state of heart, to wise behavior, the desirable pattern of behavior. As a result, the wise Christians will be able to please God by acting wisely (v. 7).
God made everything to suit His purpose. The purpose of God not to judge the proud wicked and to leave them alone is because He wants them all to repent and return to God. However, if the proud wicked people don’t repent, God will judge them, not only showing God's justice, but also leaving them to save God's people by judging them. In addition, the purpose of God's granting a small income to the righteous and a great income to the unrighteous is that God allows the righteous to live the life of the righteous with the small income, and in the end, to give the large amount of income from the unrighteous to the righteous. And the purpose of God leading us sovereignly and instructing us to make plans is to fulfill our responsibilities by faith. God will fulfill His sovereign will completely through the plans of our hearts that we make humbly and wisely as we fully trust in God. Therefore, we are praising God “My Jesus, as Thou Wilt”:
- My Jesus, as Thou wilt! O may Thy will be mine; Into Thy hand of love I would my all resign.
Through sorrow, or thro' joy, Conduct me as Thine own; And help me still to say, My Lord,
Thy will be done.
- My Jesus, as Thou wilt! Though seen through many a tear, Let not my star of hope
Grow dim or disappear. Since Thou on earth hast wept, And sorrowed oft alone,
If I must weep with Thee, My Lord, Thy will be done.
- My Jesus, as Thou wilt! All shall be well for me; Each changing future scene
I gladly trust with Thee. Straight to my home above I travel calmly on;
And sing, in life or death, My Lord, Thy will be done. Amen.