He who trusts in the Lord
[Proverbs 29:22-27]
Do you think the word of the Lord is enough? If we look at the article, ‘Reliance is faith,’ the text is based on the story of Pastor Canon Battersby, an evangelical minister of the Church of England, who heard the sermon about a king’s servant who came to Jesus from Capernaum to Ghana and asked Him to heal his son and a lesson he learned. The lesson was that none other than the king's servant who believed Jesus' words, "Go, your son lives" (Jn. 4:50). When he heard that his son would be healed, his faith was to confess that ‘The word of the Lord is enough’ when God promises to protect me, even though I have nothing in the world to depend on. This is what faith and trusting is (Internet).
What do you think? Do you think that faith confesses that ‘The word of the Lord is enough’? I had this thought when I asked myself this question: Is the word of promise the Lord gave to Victory Presbyterian Church “… I … will build my church … ’ enough (Mt. 16:18)? Or ‘Am I not often dependent on myself and/or others besides this promise?’ Now, if I am carrying out my ministry with full faith in that word of the Lord, I am sure that I will not be afraid of any situation, nor will I become anxious or discouraged by anything. The soul who believes and is convinced that the word of the Lord is sufficient is totally dependent on God. As the lyrics of the Korean hymn “Simply Trusting Every day,” I hope and pray that we will live a life of faith that confesses that “Trusting as the moments fly, Trusting as the days go by, Trusting Him whate’er befall, Trusting Jesus, that is all.”
This is what the Bible Proverbs 29:25 says: “The fear of man brings a snare, But he who trusts in the LORD will be exalted.” I would like to receive a lesson from Proverbs 29:22-27 on what does he who trusts in the Lord do in two ways under the heading “He who trusts in the Lord.”
First, he who trusts in the Lord doesn’t fear man.
Look at Proverbs 29:15a – “The fear of man brings a snare ….” We can have different kinds of fears. For example, we may have fears about the future. There are times when we are afraid and anxious when we think of an uncertain future situation that has not yet happened. When we do, we can hurt ourselves as well as the loved ones around us. We may also have a fear of being rejected by others. When I was single before getting married, there were many times when I was afraid even though I want to be in a relationship: ‘What will that sister in Christ really think of me? Wouldn't she reject me if I confessed that I like her?' There were times when I was afraid of rejection from the other person in these thoughts. Because this fear was within me, I was more afraid of the other person by mobilizing my imagination to enlarge the size of the other person's reaction rather than the size of God. If we have this fear within us, it can lead us to form a false self that responds to the expectations and needs of others (Joon-soo Kim). So, we can have these kinds of fears, but I think the most common fear among them is the fear of people. I think we can fear 4 kinds of people in Proverbs 29:22-27.
(1) We can be afraid of an angry man.
Look at Proverbs 29:22 – “An angry man stirs up dissension, and a hot-tempered one commits many sins.” How do you feel about anger in a relationship? While reading the book “THE HEART OF REMARRIAGE” by Gary & Greg Smalley, I wrote about two angers in marital relationships: ‘A righteous anger in marital relationships is necessary to bring about healthy change. But the unrighteous anger worsens the marital relationship by sinning in each other's words.’ What do you think of this saying? Perhaps when we think of “anger” mainly in marital relationships, we think of “unrighteous anger” and not righteous anger. So when we say “anger,” it seems that we tend to think only of the negative side. But we must recognize that we need righteous anger. This is because righteous anger brings healthy changes in marital relationships. However, we must be very wary of unrighteous anger. The reason is because unrighteous anger causes us to sin not only against each other, but also against God. We know that we should be slow to anger in a relationship and calm a quarrel (15:18). However, many times we can't hold back our anger and get angry easily, so we quarrel with our spouses (15:18, 21:9, 19). Why is that? One of the reasons is because when we are angry we speak harsh words (15:1). What would happen when we speak harsh words to our spouses in anger not just once or twice but like a constant dripping (19:13)? What would happen especially if we or our spouse are fools? In Proverbs 17:12, the Bible says, “Better to meet a bear robbed of her cubs than a fool in his folly.” What would happen to the couple’s fight if we or our spouses are more irrational than the bear robbed of her cubs and are angry?
We may be angry and our spouses may be afraid. We may fear our spouses who are angry, especially if our spouses are fools. Not only our spouses, but also our neighbors or people at work who are easily angry can be frightening. But the Bible tells us: “So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand” (Isa. 41:10), “Then I said to you, "Do not be terrified; do not be afraid of them” (Deut. 1:29). When the Israelites heard the report of the unbelief of the 10 men who spied out the land of Canaan, they became discouraged and were afraid of the Canaanites. To them God told, “Do not be terrified; do not be afraid of them.” In addition to these two Bible verses, there are many other words in the Bible telling us not to be afraid. Christians who rely on God and trust in Him are not afraid of those who are angry with them by obeying God's command not to be afraid. I hope and pray that we may not be afraid of the wrath of man, but fear the holy wrath of God.
(2) We can be afraid of a proud man.
Look at Proverbs 29:23 – “A man's pride brings him low, but a man of lowly spirit gains honor.” How can we know if we are proud in God's sight? As I meditated on the book of Esther, I thought about what kind of person a proud person would be in three ways based on Haman:
(a) The proud man cannot be satisfied (Esth. 5:13).
“all this” gave Haman no satisfaction as long as he saw the Jew Mordecai sitting at the king’s gate. Here, “all this” refers to Haman’s great glory, the number of children, and the fact that King Ahasuerus exalted him above all the king’s governors and servants, and that he was the only one permitted to come with the king to the banquet that Queen Esther had given him (vv. 11-12).
(b) The proud man is prone to misunderstanding (6:6).
King Ahasuerus wanted to honor Mordecai (v. 2) a Jew who had exposed those who plotted to assassinate King Ahasuerus. So he called Haman and asked, “"What should be done for the man the king delights to honor?” (v. 6) At that time, Haman misunderstood by thinking, “Who is there that the king would rather honor than me?” (v. 6)
(c) The proud man likes to be exalted (honored) (6:7-9).
Haman, who misunderstood that King Ahasuerus was trying to honor him even though King Ahasuerus wanted to honor Mordecai, said to the king, “For the man the king delights to honor, have them bring a royal robe the king has worn and a horse the king has ridden, one with a royal crest placed on its head. Then let the robe and horse be entrusted to one of the king's most noble princes. Let them robe the man the king delights to honor, and lead him on the horse through the city streets, proclaiming before him, 'This is what is done for the man the king delights to honor!’” (vv. 7-9) When we see what Haman, who knew how to be exalted, told King Ahasuerus that he had to do something like this or that to give honor to a man, we can see that Haman liked to be exalted.
We must be very wary of the penetration of pride into our hearts. As we meditate briefly on the pride of Haman, who was insatiable, misleading, and adored to be exalted (honor), we should see if we ourselves are not proud like Haman. If we look at Psalms 73, the Bible says that the pure-hearted psalmist Asaph (Ps. 73:1) saw the prosperity of the wicked and envied the arrogant (v. 3). Here, the prosperity of the wicked means “They have no struggles; their bodies are healthy and strong. They are free from the burdens common to man; they are not plagued by human ills” (vv. 4-5) and so on. Among them, not only do the wicked make pride their necklace and violence their garment (v. 6), but also they scoff and speak with malice (v. 8). Aren't you afraid of these proud wicked men? But we, who trust in God, need not fear the proud. Why? Look at Proverbs 29:23 – “A man's pride brings him low, but a man of lowly spirit gains honor.” The reason we need not fear the proud is because God will humble them (v. 23, cf. 2 Sam. 22:28; Job 40:11). Our God is a God who humbles us when our hearts are proud. Just as God humbled the Israelites at the time of the Exodus by feeding them manna in the wilderness, which their ancestors didn’t know (Deut. 8:16), He humbles us by feeding us with His word. Therefore, we must humble ourselves before the Lord (Jam. 4:10). We must humble ourselves as little children (Mt. 18:4). Let us humble ourselves, following the example of Jesus, who humbled himself and became obedient to death on the cross (Phil. 2:8), and live a life of obedience to the word of the Lord. Then the Lord will exalt us in His time (Jam. 4:10). What the Bible teaches is clear: “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted” (Lk. 14:11). The Lord who exalts the humble gives grace to the humble (Prov. 3:34; 1 Pet. 5:5) and saves the humble (Job 22:29, Ps. 149:4). The Bible says that if we are humble we will be honored (Prov. 29:23). Humility comes before honor (15:33).
(3) We can be afraid of thief and conspirator.
Look at Proverbs 29:24 – “The accomplice of a thief is his own enemy; he is put under oath and dare not testify.” Do you know who the famous thief in the Bible is? That is Judas Iscariot. Six days before the Passover, when Jesus arrived at Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus raised from the dead, the people there made him a supper (Jn. 12:1-2). Then Mary took a pound of very costly perfume of pure nard, poured it on Jesus' feet, and wiped His feet with her hair (v. 3). Seeing it, Judas Iscariot, one of Jesus' disciples, who had betrayed Him, said to Mary, “Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and given to poor people?” (vv. 4-5) The Bible says that Judas Iscariot said this, “not because he was concerned about the poor, but because he was a thief, and as he had the money box, he used to pilfer what was put into it” (v. 6). Judas Iscariot may have looked like a man who cared for the poor on the surface, but in reality he was a thief. What if this thief was paired with a powerful country leader or a false religious leader? Look at Isaiah 1:23 – “Your rulers are rebels, companions of thieves; they all love bribes and chase after gifts. They do not defend the cause of the fatherless; the widow's case does not come before them.” When thief like Judas Iscariot is paired up with the leader, they all love bribes, ask for gifts, and don’t even solve the problems of orphans or widows.
In Proverbs 29:24, the Bible says, “He who is a partner with a thief hates his own life; He hears the oath but tells nothing.” Here, “He who is a partner with a thief” is the one who plans to steal with the thief and pull the wires from behind (Park). A good example is Ahab and Jezebel who took Naboth's vineyard in 1 Kings 21. When Queen Jezebel, who asked her husband King Ahab “How is it that your spirit is so sullen that you are not eating food?” and found out that it was because Naboth the Jezreelite would not give his vineyard to Ahab said to him: “Do you now reign over Israel? Arise, eat bread, and let your heart be joyful; I will give you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite” (1 Kgs. 21:4-7). Then “she wrote letters in Ahab's name and sealed them with his seal, and sent letters to the elders and to the nobles who were living with Naboth in his city” (v. 8). The essence of the letter was to slander Naboth by saying that Naboth cursed God and the king and then to stone him to death (vv. 9-10). Truly, she was a wicked woman with many wiles (2 Ks. 9:22). The elders and nobles who lived in the city who received her letter “did as Jezebel had sent word to them, just as it was written in the letters which she had sent them” (1 Kgs. 21:11). “So they took him outside the city and stoned him to death with stones” (v. 13). In the end, Jezebel lets Ahab take over Naboth's vineyard, as promised to her husband (vv. 7, 15). Even though she killed Naboth (vv. 14, 15, 16), she took his vineyard and gave it to Ahab. She was the person behind Ahab. She was the one who persuaded Ahab to do evil before God (v. 25). She is the one who made Ahab to act very abominably in following idols, according to all that the Amorites had done, whom the LORD cast out before the sons of Israel (v. 26). We can be afraid of such person who plans to steal a thing from anther person with a thief even by killing that person. But we who trust in God need not be afraid. The reason is, of course, because God is with us according to Isaiah 41:10. And because He is with us, He is our God, He strengthens us and helps us, and He upholds us with His righteous hand, we don’t need to fear the thief or the person behind the thief. The truth we need to know is Proverbs 29:24, “He who is a partner with a thief hates his own life ….” In 1 Kings 21:20, 25, Elijah rebukes King Ahab, saying, ‘You sold yourself to do evil in the sight of the Lord.’ Will a man who loves his soul sell himself and join a thief, doing evil in the sight of God? Never. It is an evil sin committed by he who hates his soul.
The Bible Proverbs 29:24 says that he who hates his soul and sells himself to a thief does not hear the oath but tells nothing. Why? Why doesn't the thief's partner say anything in court when told to tell the truth? The reason is because he who conspires with the thief who hates his soul is evil and deceitful. Evil and liars never tell the truth. He would rather lie than eat a meal. We who trust in God should not fear those who conspire with thieves. The reason is because our God on whom we depend is the lover of our souls. The God who loves our souls neither slumbers nor sleeps, but keeps us (Ps. 121:4-5). God will keep us from all tribulation and will keep our souls from now to everlasting (vv. 7, 8).
(4) We can be afraid of an unjust man.
Look at Proverbs 29:27a – “An unjust man is abominable to the righteous ….” When we question God, we doubt God. And when we doubt God, we distrust Him. That unbelief causes us to disobey God and ultimately leads us to do unrighteousness. Here, “unrighteousness” is “wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful” (Rom. 1:29-21). When we do this unrighteousness, God’s wrath will be upon us and He will punish us. In Numbers 22, there is a person named Balaam, son of Beor (Num. 22:5) who practiced divination (Josh. 13:22). The Bible says that the people of Israel followed Balaam's advice (Num. 31:16) and went astray (2 Pet. 2:15) and sinned against God. When the Israelites stayed in Shittim, they not only committed fornication with the women of Moab (Num. 25:1), but also when those women sacrificed to their gods, the Israelites also bowed down to their gods as well (v. 2). Therefore, God’s anger burned against the Israelites (v. 3), and as a result, the leaders of the Israelites were killed by hanging themselves before God (v. 4), and 24,000 of the Israelites were killed by the plague (v. 9). Why did the Israelites come to this point? It was because of Balaam, “who loved the wages of unrighteousness” (2 Pet. 2:15). Like this, unrighteous people who love the wages of unrighteousness make not only themselves but also others do unrighteousness, so they all sin against God. God’s burning anger will be upon these people and He will punish them.
In Proverbs 29:27a, the Bible says, “An unjust man is abominable to the righteous, ….” Why is the unrighteous man abominable to the righteous? The reason is because the unrighteous love unrighteousness, and those who love unrighteousness don’t believe in the truth (2 Thess. 2:12). Therefore, the righteous man who believes the truth and loves righteousness not only hates the unrighteous, but also hates all the unrighteousness of the unrighteous. The Bible says that “There is no injustice with God” (Rom. 9:14). Also, the Bible says that the Lord is righteous and He does no wrong (Zeph. 3:5). The Bible also says that God is the truth, and His wrath is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness (Rom. 1:18). Therefore, we need not fear the unrighteous. Rather, we should hate the unrighteous and hate their injustice.
We who trust in God should not fear the angry man, the proud man, the thief and the conspirator and the unjust man. If we fear these people, we will fall into a snare (Prov. 29:25). To fear such people is to disbelieve that a great and awesome God is among us (Deut. 7:21). And when we fear people in our disbelief in God, that fear itself will lead us into a snare. Therefore, we must not be afraid of people because we are totally dependent on God. Look at Matthew 10:28 – “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”
Second and last, he who trusts in the Lord is kept safe.
Look at Proverbs 29:25b – “… but whoever trusts in the LORD is kept safe.” What do we Christians need to be careful about? The Apostle Paul said to the Philippian church members in Philippians 3:1 – “Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things again is no trouble to me, and it is a safeguard for you.” From this verse, we can see that Paul wrote the letter hoping that the Philippian church members would be safe. In that letter, Paul said “Beware” three times in 3:2 – “Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the false circumcision.” When Paul told them to beware of dogs, he meant the Jews especially the Judaizers. Who were the 'Judaizers' here? The Judaizers were the one of the groups that initially attacked the gospel. They insisted that the Gentiles should observe certain ordinances of the Old Testament, especially circumcision, in order to be righteous. Paul spoke of these Judaizers and their false gospel with heresy and he even cursed them (Galatians). But the problem was that Judaizers were recognized as true believers by most people in the church. For example, it was like that in the Galatians church (Gal. 2:12). However, the Judaizers actually undermined the clarity of the gospel in that church, seriously defiled the gospel and confounded the Gentile believers. To briefly summarize the cause of the confusion, their argument was that somebody (1) believes in Christ, (2) do his best to keep the Law and (3) then justified. But Paul’s argument was that somebody (1) believes in Christ first, (2) then is justified before God, and (3) immediately prepares to keep God's law (Machen). Do you understand this difference? Although this looks like a small difference, it is actually a very big difference. And the big difference is that while Paul says that by the grace of God we are saved by faith in Jesus Christ alone, the Judaizers said that we are saved by working that is keeping the law. The true gospel preached by Paul focuses on what Jesus Christ did on the cross (grace), but the false gospel the Judaizers claim is focused on what sinners do (merit). In a word, to Paul salvation is by God’s grace, but to the Judaizers it is by human action. Thus, Paul referred these Judaizers as “dogs” because they coveted the wealth and went around as self-proclaimed teachers (3:19). Therefore, Paul told the Philippian church saints to beware of the Judaizers because they were the false teachers who preach this false gospel and thus they were dangerous. In this way, we must beware of a false pastor and a false teacher who preach a false gospel. We must be careful and beware of the false gospel that we are saved through faith plus human effort or good works, rather than preaching the true gospel that we are saved by believing in Jesus Christ only by the grace of God. We should beware of all teachings that focus on human merit rather than on the merit of the cross of Jesus.
The Bible Proverbs 29:25b says, “… but whoever trusts in the LORD is kept safe.” Who is the one who trusts in the Lord here? We can think of it in three ways:
(1) He who trusts in the Lord is humble.
Look at Proverbs 29:23 – “A man's pride will bring him low, But a humble spirit will obtain honor.” The proud man believes in himself and doesn’t trust in the Lord. The Lord humbles such a proud man. But the humble trust in the Lord. In other words, he who trusts in the Lord is humble. And the humble man who trusts in Him pleads with God. He seeks His help and seeks His deliverance. And he takes refuge in the Lord, relying on Him as his refuge in times of danger (Ps. 31:1).
(2) He who trusts in the Lord believes that He brings justice for man.
Look at Proverbs 29:26 – “Many seek the ruler's favor, But justice for man comes from the LORD.” When we are having a hard time, especially when we are faced with injustice, we may be tempted to rely on someone stronger and more powerful than us and try to win favor with that person for help. And when we try to please him, we may use flattering remarks or give a bribe gift. These words and deeds show that we depend more on that powerful man than on God. However, Proverbs 29:25-26 tells us that he who trusts in God will be safe, and he believes that God brings justice for him. In other words, he who trusts in the Lord doesn’t try to win the favor of the ruler because he believes that the decision of man doesn’t belong to the ruler, but come from God.
(3) He who trusts in the Lord is upright.
Look at Proverbs 29:27 – “An unjust man is abominable to the righteous, And he who is upright in the way is abominable to the wicked.” He who trusts in man rather than God fears man rather than Him (v. 25). Therefore, such a man seeks favor from men (rulers) rather than from God (v. 26). In other words, he who is afraid of people and depend on them will try to win their favor. Such a man doesn’t do what is right and does injustice. Therefore, he is abominable to the righteous (v. 27). But he who trusts in the Lord (v. 25) isn’t afraid of people. So he doesn’t seek favor with people (v. 26) and doesn’t do injustice but do right things (v. 27). He does justice among his neighbors, by true rightness in way and deeds (Jere. 7:5). He hates all deceit (Ps. 119:128) and doesn’t delight in foolishness (Prov. 15:21).
The Bible Psalms 146:3 says “Do not trust in princes, In mortal man, in whom there is no salvation.” We must not depend on those who don’t have the strength to help. Don't rely on those who are famous in their eyes. Dr. Yoon-sun Park said this about trusting people: ‘Human trust is an evil idea that blocks the path of trust in God. Therefore, the psalmist first forbids the sin of human trust, in order to lead others to the act of trusting God’ (Park). Trusting those who don’t have the strength to help prevent us from trusting in God as our true helper. Therefore, we must first stop trusting people who don’t have the power to help. We need to stop trusting people. We must trust in God alone. We who trust in God will be safe (Prov. 29:25). We who trust in God have no fear of man. When we trust in God, we aren’t afraid of the angry man. Also, we aren’t afraid of the proud man and thief and conspirator. And we who trust in God aren’t afraid of the unjust man. We who trust in God will be safe. We who trust in God are humble. We who trust in the Lord believe that He brings justice for man. We who trust in the Lord are upright. We who trust in the Lord will be safe because God will protect and keep us.