“A wise king”

[Proverbs 20:26-30]

                We have already received four lessons under the title of “A king who sits on the throne of justice” based on Proverbs 20:8-12.  If we review the lesson again, first, the king who sits on the throne of justice distinguishes between good and evil and disperses all evil (Prov. 20:8).  Second, no one can say “I am clean and without sin” before the king who sits on the throne of justice (v. 9).  Third, we must be honest before the king who sits on the throne of justice (v. 10).  Fourth, the king who sits on the throne of justice hears and sees everything (v. 12).  In addition, there are three lessons we have received under the heading “A good king who pleases God” based on Proverbs 16:10-15, when we think about the subject “king”.  If we review those lessons again, first, the good king, who pleases God makes right decisions with God's wisdom (16:10).  Second, the good king who pleases God detests wrongdoing (v. 12).  Third and last, the good king who pleases God is well advised by loyalists (v. 13).  In addition, we meditated on the “king” based on the words of Proverbs 19:12 and 20:2, and considered two things under the heading “An ideal president”.  First, the ideal president rules the country with justice.  Second and last, the ideal president rules the country with love.

Today, I would like to receive five lessons by meditating on Proverbs 20:26-30 under the title of “A wise king”.

            First, the wise king discerns and separates the good from the wicked and punishes the wicked.

                Look at Proverbs 20:26 – “A wise king winnows out the wicked; he drives the threshing wheel over them.”  Here, the word ‘to winnow’ means to separate the grain from the chaff, as we have learned in Proverbs 20:8.  That means that the wise king separates the good from the wicked, as if shedding grains and chaffs.  And in the phrase “he drives the threshing wheel over them”, “threshing wheel” refers to the ‘threshing wheel pulled by a cow’, usually having 3-4 wheels.  These threshers rotated and pressed the grain to peel it off and reveal the grain.  Likewise, the wise king clearly distinguishes between the righteous and the wicked, just as the peasant distinguishes between the grain and the chaffs through the shedding.  And just as a farmer separates the grain from the chaff, collects the grains and puts them into the warehouse, and the chaff is blown by the wind or burned in the fire, the wise king also sorts out the righteous and the wicked through fair trial and imposes appropriate punishment on the wicked. (Internet).

Can you imagine what would happen to a country if the president of a country could not distinguish between the good and the evil?  I was listening to a Korean radio broadcast two weeks ago, and I heard the news that there are a lot of setbacks in work due to the fact that the heads of agencies are not appointed to the Korean government.  I heard why the heads of agencies aren’t being appointed quickly.  It is said that it takes a long time because the person who is in charge of personnel in the government has thoroughly investigated the appointment of heads of agencies.  It is said that it usually takes one week for the head of an agency and more time for appointing a minister.  After hearing this news, when President Geun-hye Park's administration came into power, and when I thought of the people who had a problem because of wrongdoing, the government felt that it would have to do a thorough check in the appointment of public officials.  Can you imagine what would happen if the Korean government could not properly discern people in appointing ministers or heads of agencies and put wicked people in such important positions?  It is a principle that should apply not only to the president or government of a country, but also to the church as well.  Can you imagine what would happen if the Korean government could not properly discern people in appointing ministers or heads of agencies and put wicked people in such important positions?  It is a principle that should apply not only to the president or government of a country, but also to the church.  I think that the effect of the wrongdoing is not so small if the session doesn’t properly discern the people in appointing workers in the church.  If we apply this principle in raising our children at home, the wise parents should know and understand their children's friends so that they can discern and separate good and bad friends.  Isn't that obvious?  But if the parent cannot discern whether the friends around his or her child are good or bad, and therefore cannot separate between them, then what will happen to the child?

After King Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings to God at Gibeon (1 Kgs. 3:4), at night God appeared in Solomon's dream and said, “Ask what you wish me to give you” (v. 5).  What did Solomon ask?  Look at 1 Kings 3:9 – “So give Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people to discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?”  What King Solomon asked of God was “discernment to understand justice” (v. 11).  Isn't this the prayer topic we should ask God for?  Like King Solomon, we must ask God for wisdom to discern good and evil.  In particular, when we pray for the President who serves our country, we must pray, ‘God, please give the President of our country the wisdom to discern good and evil.’  When God listened to our prayers and gave the President of our country the wisdom to discern good and evil so that he can discern between the good and the wicked and punishes the wicked, there will be order and justice in our country.  And when we pray for ourselves too, we must ask God for discerning wisdom.  When God answers our prayer, we will be able to discern between the holy and the profane, and between the unclean and the clean (Lev. 10:10).   Then we will be able to separate ourselves from deceitful and unclean things (Neh. 13:3).

Second, the wise king conscientiously rules the kingdom before God.

                Look at Proverbs 20:27 – “The lamp of the LORD searches the spirit of a man ; it searches out his inmost being.”  Not long ago, a pastor in Korea asked a question in my Facebook message: ‘… What is the most important thing to care about in the pastor's work?’  When I was asked that question, I wrote to the pastor: ‘… As a pastor, I think the most important, most caring, and most interested in my work is to look at myself in front of God.  It is important to reflect on myself in the word of God, a spiritual mirror.’  Then the pastor replied: ‘… What you said seems like saying that before preaching to anyone, as a believer you are trying to stand one-on-one with God first and try to live as a true member of the church.’  One of the reasons I wrote like that to that pastor was because it seemed to me that the most important, most caring and interested thing as a pastor is to look at myself in front of God.  This is because if I don’t live my Christian life right first, I cannot tell my church members to do so.  In other words, I want to be a conscientious Christian in front of God.  So it is important to examine myself diligently in the word of God.  Looking at the first half of Proverbs 20:27, “The lamp of the Lord searches the spirit of a man …”.  Here “the spirit of a man” refers to the conscience of man (MacArthur).  What King Solomon is talking about now is saying that the conscience of man is the lamp of God.  This word “the lamp’ appears two more times in the book of Proverbs: “The light of the righteous rejoices, But the lamp of the wicked goes out” (13:9), “For there will be no future for the evil man; The lamp of the wicked will be put out” (24:20).  What does it mean?  It means that the lamp of the wicked will definitely go out.  But when we see that King Solomon says that the light of the righteous shines brightly, it means that the wise king, as a righteous man, rules the country with a good conscience, revealing the darkness of the wicked since he looks into the deep inside of the wicked.  And because the wise king punishes the wicked with justice, he turns off the lamps of the wicked.

The Bible Psalms 7:9 says that the righteous God tries the hearts and minds.  Therefore, the apostle Paul says in 1 Timothy 1:19, “keeping faith and a good conscience.”  Indeed, the apostle Paul said that he did his best to maintain always a blameless conscience both before God and before men (Acts 24:16).  And the apostle Paul said, “Brethren, I have lived my life with a perfectly good conscience before God up to this day” (23:1) in front of the high priest, Ananias, the Sadducees, and the Pharisees.  The apostle Peter says in 1 Peter 3:16 – “and keep a good conscience so that in the thing in which you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ will be put to shame.”  But what is our conscience now as Christians?  Do we really have a good conscience?  Are we really doing good in Christ with the good conscience?  If we are doing this now, as Jesus said in Matthew 5:16, our light shines before people so that they may see our good works and glorify our Father who is in heaven.  Also, as the apostle Peter said, “…  in the thing in which you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ will be put to shame” (1 Pet. 3:16).  However, if we don’t have good conscience now, but rather our conscience is weakening and defiled (2 Cor. 8:7), what is phenomenon of Christians now?  Then we will not be put to shamed by those who curse us (1 Pet. 3:16).  And now we have nothing to say about their slander and will be put to shame.

                We must be wary of hardening and paralyzing our conscience.  Can you imagine?  If all the traffic lights on the street are not working properly and the green light comes on when the red light should come on, and the red light comes on when the green light should come on, what will the traffic be?  Perhaps great confusion will come.  There will be many car accidents, many people will be injured, and even traffic jams and deaths will occur.  Just imagine.  If the conscience of the president, the leader of a country, is paralyzed, what will happen to that country?  Wouldn't the wicked be infested with it?  What about the church?  If the conscience of a pastor who is the leader of a church is hardened, what will happen to that church?  The wise king will strive to be free from his conscience before God.  And he will conscientiously rule a nation before God.  Therefore, the light of the righteous will shine brightly, and the lamp of the wicked will go out.

            Third, the wise king protects himself with love and faithfulness.

Look Proverbs 20:28 – “Love and faithfulness keep a king safe; through love his throne is made secure.”  One of the memories that I still can't forget while teaching my second generation students as a pastoral intern is the memory of taking some students out of state and sitting in a circle in front of the main hall of the church and kneeling down and crying out to God.  After that, the father or mother of a student who prayed together later told me what his child had said to him or her, ‘The students are looking at whether I truly love God or not.’  Since then, I didn’t try to act to show my students that I love God as a pastoral staff.  But I decided and tried to become more and more loving God in my relationship with Him in order to be an example to the students.  The citizens of a country think the same.  Those citizens know whether their president loves them or not.  If the President simply says he loves them, the citizens will not follow him with sincere respect for the President.  Also, if the President made promises for the citizens during the election, and if he didn’t follow his promises as President, the citizens would never respect and follow the President.  To that extent, a leader must have love and faithfulness. 

In Proverbs 20:28, the Bible says that the wise king protects himself with love and faithfulness.  What does it mean?  It means that the king defends his throne with love and faithfulness and strengthens him.  In other words, the wise king loves the people and faithfully does what he promises them.  Isn't that obvious?  If the king loves his people, will he not keep his promises to them?  It is said that the king with this love and faithfulness protects himself, and strengthens his throne.  The wise king who has love and faithfulness in the end prays to God like this: “You, O LORD, will not withhold Your compassion from me; Your lovingkindness and Your truth will continually preserve me” (Ps. 40:11).  In other words, he prays that the Lord will always protect him with the His love and truth, as well as revealing His love and truth to the people in governing a nation entrusted by the Lord.  Like this, the wise king’s prayer and practice goes together.  Therefore, he is under the protection of the Lord to strengthen his throne.

            Fourth, the wise king has strength and wisdom.

                Look at Proverbs 29:29 – “The glory of young men is their strength, gray hair the splendor of the old.”  When we think about a young man, we all know that the young man has strength.  But when we think about an old man, what do we think he has?  It is wisdom through his many experiences.  The very wise king is the one who combines both of these things.  In other words, the wise king has strength and wisdom through many experiences.  When I think about the “strength” and “wisdom” of the wise king, I think of God's words about the king in Deuteronomy 17:15-20.  “Now it shall come about when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself a copy of this law on a scroll in the presence of the Levitical priests.  It shall be with him and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the LORD his God, by carefully observing all the words of this law and these statutes” (vv. 18-19).  The Bible says that the king should not multiply horses for himself (v. 16), should not multiply wives for himself (v. 17) and should read the book of the law all the days of his life (v. 19).  When I think about these words, my conclusion is that the king must have the strength of the word rather than strengthen his national power by having lots of horse and lots of wives.  Why does the Bible say that a king must have the book of the law next to him and read it all his life?  What is the reason?  It is to learn to fear God.  Why should the king learn to fear God?  The reason is because when the king learns to fear God, he will hate evil and keep away from evil.  Look at Proverbs 14:16 – “A wise man is cautious and turns away from evil, But a fool is arrogant and careless.”

The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom.  The wise king fears God means he has the power of wisdom.  Look at Proverbs 24:5 – “A wise man is strong, And a man of knowledge increases power.”  The wise king has strength like a young man and wisdom through experience like an old man.  He has the strength of the word of God and of wisdom.

            Fifth and last, the wise king disciplines.

                Look at Proverbs 20:30 – “Blows and wounds cleanse away evil, and beatings purge the inmost being.”  There is a Korean saying, ‘You must be beaten to be awaken.’  I think that means that we can't be awaken until we are disciplined.  That’s why Proverbs 10:13b says, “…  But a rod is for the back of him who lacks understanding.”  Also, Proverbs 19:29 says, “Judgments are prepared for scoffers, And blows for the back of fools.”  What does it mean?  Doesn’t it mean that there is a whip for the back of a fool who has no wisdom?  The fool needs to be beaten to be awakened.  That means that the rod is effective for foolish children.  That's why Proverbs 22:15 says, “Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child; The rod of discipline will remove it far from him.”  If the parents truly love their children, they must discipline their beloved children in order to drive away foolishness in their hearts.  It is our Heavenly Father who disciplines us to drive away the foolishness in our hearts.  Look at Hebrews 12:4-11: “In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.  And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons: ‘My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,’ because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son.  Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?  If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons.  Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live!  Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness.  No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.”  The Bible tells us that God disciplines us because we are God's children.  In other words, God disciplines us because He considers us His sons or daughters.  And God disciplines us because “there is hope” (Prov. 19:18).  And the Bible says that the reason God disciplines us as God's children is because He loves us.  Look at Proverbs 3:12 – “For whom the LORD loves He reproves, Even as a father corrects the son in whom he delights.”  Also, look at Proverbs 13:24 – “He who withholds his rod hates his son, But he who loves him disciplines him diligently.”  That is why God is saying that He disciplines for our good.  What are the benefits of His discipline?  It is to participate in the holiness of God.  And through discipline, God trains us to produce the fruits of righteousness and peace.  Look at Psalms 89:32 – “Then I will punish their transgression with the rod And their iniquity with stripes.”  God punishes us with the rod and with stripes to punish our sins.  Why the rod and stripes?  This is because “The rod and reproof give wisdom” (Prov. 29:15).  As a result, we confess our sins and repent and return to God.  As a result, even we rescue our souls from Sheol (23:14).

The wise king disciplines his people in ruling his country.  And he lifted up the rod and disciplines them to get rid of the sins of his people.  The reason he does so is because “beating purge the inmost being” (20:30).  It distinguishes and separates the good from the wicked and disciplines the wicked with justice.  Therefore, he protects the citizens of his country and establishes the order of his country.  If those who are disciplined are wise, they will be disciplined and will repent of their sins and turn away from them. But what would happen if the disciplined one is a fool?  It may be one of two things: (1) Being disciplined, either the foolish will gain wisdom [(19:25) “Strike a scoffer and the naive may become shrewd, But reprove one who has understanding and he will gain knowledge”] or (2) Whether they continue to sin even after being disciplined [(17:10) “A rebuke goes deeper into one who has understanding Than a hundred blows into a fool”].  

Today we meditated on 5 things about the wise king: (1) The wise king discerns and separates the good from the wicked and punishes the wicked, (2) The wise king conscientiously rules the kingdom before God, (3) The wise king protects himself with love and faithfulness, (4) The wise king has strength and wisdom and (5) The wise king disciplines.  Let’s pray to God for the president of our country at this time.  May God give wisdom to our President.