The book of Proverbs is a collection of short and wise principles for living from some of the wisest men who ever lived. Why is this book important? God designed the universe out of His great wisdom and understanding. The universe reflects His wisdom. We need wisdom to live lives that will successfully work in this God-created universe.
The subject of Proverbs is wisdom. Wisdom is knowledge that is properly applied to a situation. First you have to know the right information, but then you have to apply it correctly. There is an essential prerequisite for wisdom: yirat Adonai – the fear of the Lord. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. A human being must know that God exists, and who the true God, the God of Israel is, that He is the Supreme Being, great and powerful and wise, righteous and just, and He judges the righteous and wicked, rewards the righteous and punishes the bad. In addition, since God the Father sent Messiah the Son, to be wise, a human being must accept Yeshua as the Messiah, and receive the Holy Spirit, and be saved.
Some human beings are wise about the way that the world works, but are ignorant of the ways of God. Some human beings are knowledgeable about spiritual things – about God and Messiah and salvation, but not wise about the way the world works. Proverbs helps us to be wise in the ways of God, and wise in the ways of the world. The spiritual world and the physical world meet in a special way here on Earth. Heaven is where God’s throne is at, but Earth is His footstool. Man is a combination of physical and spiritual. He is made from the dust of the Earth, but also the Lord breathed into him the breathe of life. Proverbs has wisdom for both successful spiritual life and successful physical life. It helps us to be well rounded, balanced, successful human beings.
11:1 A false balance is an abomination to the Lord, but a just weight is His delight. A false balance is a weighing device that is rigged to give a false outcome. If you wanted to buy something, but the person that you were buying from was using a false balance, you were being cheated. You would wind up paying too much or be given too little. This kind of theft is abhorred by the Lord, who is full of truth, integrity, righteousness, fairness, equity. We are to be people of integrity in our words, and people who are honest and fair in our economic and business dealings.
We don’t use balances much in the modern world, but there are other ways of cheating to amount to much the same. When the government goes off the gold and silver standard, and then is free to create money backed by nothing, and greatly expand the money supply, which our government has been doing since 1971, it is a kind of false balances. When the government also changes the ways it reports economic numbers so as to under-report inflation (the real rate of inflation is around 7%), and which means that the real rate of growth of the economy is basically zero, or less – which means we are getting poorer as a nation); when the government over-estimates the amount of jobs really being produced, which it has been doing, it is a kind of false balances. When the government goes into debt at an obscene rate, so that present goods and services are being paid for by our children and grandchildren, that is a kind of false balance. Protect yourself from these false balances by storing you wealth in real money: gold and silver.
11:2 When pride comes, then comes dishonor, but with the humble is wisdom. It’s ironic. People who are proud, who want people to think highly of them, more highly than they are actually worthy of; people who seek for status and recognition begin acting in ways that will remove honor from them and bring them dishonor. They treat others poorly, they become selfish, they make bad decisions based on their desire for status. The humble, those who fear the Lord, and know that every breathe that they breath, and every beat of their heart is totally dependant on the goodness and mercy of God, that the Lord made them the way they are, with their gifts, talents, abilities and opportunities; those who aren’t concerned with status and the praise of men and exalting themselves over others, have better values and make better decisions. They are wise, and with wisdom eventually comes honor!
11:3 The integrity of the upright will guide them, but the crookedness of the treacherous will destroy them. It is wise and best to choose to be a person who is upright, who is straight, who plays by the rules, and a person of integrity, of good character, of morality and high ethics. Your choice to be a man or woman of integrity will guide you into good decisions. When you are confronted by situations where the choice is to cut corners, make a quick and easy but shady buck, cheat on your spouse; or take the better but harder path of honesty and hard work, you will know what to do. Your prior decision to be a person of integrity will guide you into making the right decision.
On the other hand the bog-deem, the treacherous, the unfaithful, are destroyed by their duplicity and crookedness. Don’t allow yourself to become a person who engages in selef – duplicity, a person who is deceitful in speech or conduct, who lies, who misleads, who says one thing but does another, who publicly is one way but privately another. Don’t become someone who overthrows good things, who overturns good ways, good values, good morals, good ethics, someone who turn away from good ways, and stops following the right course. Those who deal falsely, those who are faithless, those who destroy what is good and right, will themselves be destroyed.
11:4 Riches do not profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death. Know the limits of money. Money can buy some things, but there are many things, many of the most important things, that money can’t buy. Money can’t buy happiness. Money can’t always buy protection. In a day of wrath, when you find yourself with an earthly enemy attacking you and about to kill you, or, even worse, on a day when the righteous anger of God is destroying those who continue to rebel against Him, your money will not help you. Know the limits of money, and don’t make money your highest priority.
11:5 The righteousness of the blameless will smooth his way, but the wicked will fall by his own wickedness. The wise and good Creator has designed the universe in such a way that it cooperates with the right actions, the good deeds, the honorable intentions and the honest words of the tah-meem – the blameless, those men and women of integrity and honesty who function the way the Creator designed mankind to function. But the very same universe conspires against the wicked. His wickedness, his evil, his twisting of God’s laws will cause his own downfall. He is undermining his own well being. He is digging his own hole that he will fall into. He is building his own snare that will catch him. Like Haman, he is building a gallows on which he will be hung.
11:6 The righteousness of the upright will deliver them, but the treacherous will be caught by their own greed. The upright, the y’shar-eem, those who are straight and true, who know the true God, and who follow down the straight and narrow path that He has laid down for us, who don’t twist the truth about God and Scripture, who don’t corrupt morals, who live lives of integrity – their righteousness, being in a right relationship with their God, and then consistently doing the right things, and pleasing the Lord in all respects, will deliver them. They will escape from many of the difficulties and bad consequences that others will experience. They will be rescued from many of the unpleasant experiences that others will go through. But the bog-deem, the treacherous, the unfaithful, those who improperly use things – things like themselves, their sexuality, their money, their relationships with other people, those who brings themselves and others into a less good condition, will not be delivered from the problems they make. They will not escape from the consequences they are creating for themselves and for others. They will be caught by their greed, by their evil desires, by their lust. Because they are unwilling to give up their desires for the wrong things, because they refuse to give up their perverse pleasures, their improper use of sexuality, because they won’t stay within proper bounds of law, moral, sexual behavior, proper use of money; because they refuse to abandon their wrong ideas of God, religion, truth, morality, they will be caught by a God-created universe that won’t forever tolerate such wrongness.
They are like the hungry monkey who puts his hand in a jar with a narrow top in order to steal some nuts. Suddenly a leopard comes, and the monkey needs to climb a tree to escape. If only he would let go of the nuts, he could remove his hand from the jar and escape in time! But he is greedy with desire for those delicious nuts he wants to steal and eat, and because of his greed he won’t let go of the nuts, and his hand won’t come out of the jar, and without his hand he can’t climb the tree, and so he is caught and is killed. What kind of jar is your hand in? What kind of nuts are you trying to steal? Won’t you, with the help of God, and the knowledge that comes to you from the Word of God, let them go?
11:7 When a wicked man dies, his expectation will perish, and the hope of strong men perishes. What does the wicked person, the person who refuses to become godly, who will not do things God’s way – what does he hope for? He hopes for many things – good things and bad things. He wants continued independence, but he will find that he must submit to the law, the power, the authority, the will, the judgment, the punishment of an offended God. He wants control and domination and power over others, but he will find himself completely weak and powerless over himself and over his own fate. He will have no control over himself or others. He wants status, he wants praise, he wants to feel good about himself, but there is no status in Hell, no praise from demons or sinners. He wants happiness, but he will experience only unhappiness. There is no joy in the Lake of Fire. He wants life. He wants to live, to be, to exist, but his life itself I believe will eventually perish.
Don’t go that way! You will be terribly disappointed. Your hopes will be crushed, your expectations come to nothing. Can you imagine the disappointment of those who have ignored God, continued in the rebellion against the good King of the Universe, when they understand what they have lost? What they could have had if they had turned to the living God, and yielded their lives to the service of the great King, but no longer have that option, and only the outer darkness and the Lake of Fire is in store for them? Can you possibly imagine the sense of regret? The sense of loss? The weeping, the anguish, the horror?
11:8 The righteous is delivered from trouble, but the wicked takes his place. This God-created universe is designed in such a way that it helps the righteous – those who are right with God, those who are in a right relationship with the Holy Creator, those who are following His wise principles for living. They will save themselves from tzah-rah, from tzuris, from trouble. But, the opposite is true for the wicked – the man who is guilty of violating God’s standards, who causes the Lord and man trouble, will cause himself trouble. You want a trouble-free life? Get right with God, and then start living the right way and doing the right things! You want trouble? You enjoy trouble? Then remain alienated from the Creator from whom you are estranged. Don’t accept His gracious offer of atonement and reconciliation by placing your faith in the wonderful Messiah that He sent to rescue Jews and Gentiles, the Savior who came from Heaven to Earth, died on a cross, came back to life, thereby showing that God approved of everything that He said, everything that He did, that He is sinless and able to reconcile us to God, and rescue and deliver us, and save us from the worst troubles – sin, death, Hell.
11:10-11 When it goes well with the righteous, the city rejoices, and when the wicked perish, there is joyful shouting. By the blessing of the upright a city is exalted, but by the mouth of the wicked it is torn down. Morality and government, religion and politics can’t be separated. That was never the intention of the founding fathers. They understood and repeatedly stated that this republic must be supported by Christian values. They were moral men, and most of them deeply religious Christians. Half of the Continental Congress were pastors!
When it goes well with the righteous and the upright, the straight and true, when they are flourishing, when their godly values are the most influential factors in the city, state or nation when the wise principles that they advocate are put into practice, the blessing of God comes to that city, state or nation.
I like that expression, “the blessing of the upright.” Because they have chosen to follow the Lord’s ways, in this God-designed universe good results happen. Good things happen as a direct result of their uprightness. And, the Lord adds His support, His blessing. The Lord does good things to that city, that state, that nation, and the people are exalted. They advance higher and higher in wisdom, morality, justice, proper living, and often prosperity. The people are better off. They are happier. This is exactly what happened in the United States from our beginning until the 1960s. But, since the early 1960s, the mouth of the wicked has been heard more than the voice of upright, and the nation is being torn down.
Be righteous yourself, and extend your influence. Speak up. Write letters. Talk to people. Teach others. Using music, art, drama, the media, let the truth and good values be known. Vote for righteous men and women. Those with good values must influence their society. They must get involved in politics, and help govern the city, the state, the nation according to the will of God. If the righteous don’t get involved; if they think that politics is too dirty, or not important, then guess who will take control and exert their godless values?
11:14 Where there is no guidance the people fall, but in abundance of counselors there is victory. Life in this fallen world, on this planet that is under the influence of the Prince of Darkness, a world that is confused and chaotic, it is important to get good advice. This is important for local, state and national governments. A wise leader surrounds himself with knowledgeable and wise and competent men and women who can give him good advice. And, the same principle is true for an individual. There are times in your life that you will need guidance.
If you are a child of God, and if you lack wisdom, you can pray to God the Father, who is generous with wisdom, and is willing to give it to you. You have the Son of God, who is the Wonderful Counselor, who is full of the wisdom of God and is able to give you the best counsel and the wisest advice for every situation. You have the Spirit of Wisdom and Truth, the precious Holy Spirit as your personal guide, who will guide you into the truth that you need. You have the Holy Scriptures, which are full of wisdom and understanding. You have godly pastors and rabbis and elders who know the Lord and His Word, and how the world works, and can advise you! You are truly blessed and surrounded with wisdom!
11:15 He who is guarantor for a stranger will surely suffer for it, but he who hates being a guarantor is secure. This is a teaching on the wise use of your money. Be very careful who you promise to cover a debt for. Be careful who you co-sign a loan with. I would say that you should be careful who you loan money to. Be careful who you trust with your possessions. Very often there are reasons why a person doesn’t have enough money to accomplish what he wants to do, and needs a loan or someone to guarantee a loan. Sometimes they are people of good character, but simply have been though hard times and difficult circumstances that could happen to anyone. But, there are many people of bad character who don’t care about honesty or integrity or their obligation to make sure that they repay their loans. Sometimes people don’t have money because they don’t know how to save; or they haven’t been careful with their money; or they don’t want to save – they don’t want to delay present gratification for their future good. Since they are unwilling to defer present pleasures in order to have future gains, they won’t find ways to consume less and save more, and then put the savings into good investments.
11:16 A gracious woman attains honor, and ruthless men attain riches. Women, girls, don’t try to be honored by being like hard-hearted, tough, mean, uncompassionate men! We have too many people like that in the world already! God’s woman is a gracious woman; a woman who is kindhearted; and woman who is compassionate, who is loving and helps those around her; a woman who directs her feminine, nurturing nature, not just to her family, but to all those around her. She is the woman, the young lady, who is truly worthy of respect.
And ruthless men attain riches. This satanically dominated and fallen world favors the ruthless. It advances the vicious, the war-like, the aggressive, and the back-stabber. It favors the Herods, the Hitlers, the members of organized crime, the drug lords. If you are willing to cheat, intimidate others with violence, and murder, you may advance quickly and arrive at high places. But, if in the process of ruthlessly attaining wealth, you harm others and lose your own soul, is it worth it?
11:17 The merciful man does himself good, but the cruel man does himself harm. This God-designed universe works in such a way that the way we treat others, affects not only them, but ourselves as well. The cruel man, who has no mercy or compassion toward others, not only harms them, but he harms himself. Over time, he becomes less and less like the gracious God; as he continues his cruelties, he becomes less and less human. He diminishes himself. The murderer not only kills his victim, but he murders himself. He destroys something crucial, something that is essential to his humanity, at the core of his being. This knowledge should motivate all of us to be merciful toward others. If we do, we will be doing ourselves a favor. We will be blessing ourselves. We will become better human beings. The cruel man might not care about others, but he cares about himself. If he cares about himself, he must be generous, gracious and nice toward others.
11:18 The wicked earns deceptive wages, but he who sows righteousness gets a true reward. This God-created cosmos, this will-of-the-Supreme-Being- oriented universe functions so that the one who does the right things will get a true reward. The things he does are right; they are good; they are God-honoring; and the King of Righteous, whose throne is built on righteousness, fairness, justice and equity, will give a real and lasting and genuine reward to the one who does the right thing and lives the right way. But the wicked man, the man who defies the Maker, and rejects His ways, does many things that violate the spiritual and moral laws that the Lord has built into creation. The wicked man thinks that the things that he is doing will benefit him, will improve his life, will help him have a good and successful life, but it is deceptive. The pleasure, the happiness, that sense of satisfaction that comes from living a truly successful life that he thinks he will enjoy, won’t happen. He will find out that his life was a waste. His life was meaningless, insubstantial, lightweight, like chaff that the wind blows away.
11:19 The truly righteousness will attain to life, and he who pursues evil will bring about his own death. Many claim to be righteous, but not all are. The really righteous individual, who is in a right relationship with the true and righteous God, because he knows that Messiah came into this world, and died on a cross, and came back to life, and is alive now, and is a living Savior, and has placed his faith in Messiah Yeshua; the one who demonstrates that he is righteous by remaining righteous to the end of his life; the one whom the Lord has declared to be genuinely righteous, that righteous individual will attain to life. He will experience real life in this world, life that is connected to the Lord, who is the Source of Life; he will experience life that is meaningful, life that is abundant; he will experience life that leads inevitably to eternal life. He will go from life to life!
But, the one who pursues evil, who out of stubborn ignorance or active rebellion refuses to submit himself to the Lord, and will not believe in Messiah Yeshua; who will not seek for the truth, so that he will find it; who will not knock on the door of Heaven so that it will be opened to him; who will not study the Scriptures; who will not believe the truth when it is presented to him; who, as a result, winds up destroying the possibility of having a good relationship with God; and the person who violates many of the good commands and wise principles that the Lord built into creation, and ruins the good things that the Lord has blessed us with; who tears down what is good in society, and destroys what is good in nature; that individual will not attain to life. By violating God’s order, and rebelling against the Creator’s design, he ruins himself. He lessens himself, he diminishes himself, and causes his own death.
His bad decisions, like taking or selling drugs, hanging out with a bad crowd, or engaging in promiscuous sex, may shorten his life. Or, he might violate the laws of society and he may get himself executed. Or, the Lord’s judgement may fall and cut short his life. He brings about his own physical death and, he brings about his own spiritual death. He will surely experience the fearsome Second Death, which is being sent into the Lake of Fire.
11:20 The perverse in heart are an abomination to the Lord, but the blameless in their walk are His delight. Men and women who are perverse in heart, who at the core of their being continue in Adam and Eve’s sin; who in the center of their deceitful hearts refuse to forsake their errors, who are morally and spiritually crooked and refuse to become straight; who have no problem lying, stealing, cheating, fornicating, advocating the goodness of homosexuality and abortion; who say that there are no absolutes and that truth is relative, and all religions are alike and lead to the same end; who undermine the truth and won’t embrace the Lord’s wise ways; who, even though God has said, “This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased – listen to Him” despise what God the Father has testified about His Son – they are toh-ah-vaht Adonai – an abomination, something revolting to Adonai – the only true God, the everlasting Lord, the Eternal One, who is without beginning and without end because He always was, is, and always will be. You think it a good idea to continue to be repulsive to the Holy One of Israel when He is willing to cleanse you? To be considered something horrific by the Supreme Being when He is willing to transform you? You want to continue to be considered disgusting and loathsome to the One who has life and being in Himself, who is the source of life for the rest of us, and will assuredly be your Judge, and who will certainly reject you? Brilliant plan genius!
On the other hand, the blameless in their walk are the Lord’s delight. Those who are living the way the Creator instructed us to live – living like Yeshua lived, with love for God and man, with kindness, with truth, with grace and mercy toward others, with courage; those who are men and women of good character and honesty, delight the Lord. The Lord really likes them! The Almighty really loves them and feels very warmly toward them! He has great affection for them and wants to be close to them – just like a parent delights in a son or daughter who is doing well. Your watch your child grow up, and as he is accomplishing more, and doing the right things, and living the right way, and taking care of his responsibilities, you are so proud of him, so pleased with him. You want to run and give him a big hug and do something nice for him! That’s the way our Heavenly Father feels about His beloved sons and daughters who are full of faithfulness, honor, duty, responsibility, integrity. He is proud of and pleased with and wants to be close to each one of them!
Don’t be surprised if you hear something similar to this one day from the Almighty: “Good job My son! I was so proud of you when you were on Earth, and I am so proud of you now! You did well! You did the right things! You lived the way I intended humanity to live. You became a man after My heart, a being of virtue and integrity. I am so pleased with you! I want us to be close to each other forever!”
11:22 As a ring of gold in a swine’s snout, so is a beautiful woman who lacks discretion. Rings are put in the nose of a chazeer (pig) to control them. A ring in its nose inhibits the pig from digging. It also make the pig easy to lead. Trying to push a big pig in the direction you want it to go is very hard, but if you tie a rope around the pig it follows the rope with almost no effort on your part. But, it is foolish and inappropriate to make the ring of gold. Gold is much too valuable and rare to be used for this common purpose. You put a ring made of common and inexpensive metal in the nose of the pig – not precious and expensive gold. Just as a golden ring is out of place in a pig’s nose, so is the lack of discernment, the lack of good taste, the inability to discriminate between wisdom and foolishness in a beautiful woman. A beautiful woman should be beautiful on the inside as well as on the outside. She must have the inner beauty of wisdom and discernment in her soul.
Eligible bachelor, if a woman is beautiful but also inappropriate; if she doesn’t stay within proper bounds; if she flirts with the wrong people at the wrong time; if she dresses inappropriately; if she habitually says stupid, silly, crude things; if she has shallow values; if she is all about money; if she doesn’t care about others; if she doesn’t have the heart of a servant; if she can’t distinguish what is important and lasting from what is shallow and temporary, you don’t want to get involved with that woman. She will hurt you. She will drag you down. So you men, don’t just go for good looks. It’s important that you find the woman you want to live with to be attractive, but that must not be the main criteria for choosing her as your partner in life. Does she know the Lord? Does she have good values? Is she kind? Will she be a good mother? Does she have good character? Will she be faithful to you?
And, as long as we are on the topic of pierced noses, I am going to express my opinion on the subject. Body piercings and rings belong in swine – not in human beings, and not in God’s holy people. I can tolerate a woman’s ear being pierced – barely. Other than a woman’s ear, I would rather not see body piercings, rings or tattoos on the human body.
11:24-26 There is one who scatters, and yet increases all the more, and there is one who withholds what is justly due, and yet it results only in want. The generous man will be prosperous, and he who waters will himself be watered. He who withholds grain, the people will curse him, but blessing will be on the head of him who sells it. In an unstable, chaotic world, it is natural to want to keep all of your resources in reserve for yourself, and store them up for your own needs. But, we can’t be that way. We are part of a community and we have obligations to the community. We benefit from the community, and need to give back to it. We should understand that we could never accumulate much wealth if we were on our own apart from society. We could barely live at subsistence level.
Don’t use the wealth and resources that you have accumulated only for yourself. Be a generous person with those who are in need. It’s the right thing to do. It pleases the Lord who is concerned that every human being have enough food, clothing and shelter to live a decent life. Especially in a time of great need, you have to share your resources. It is your duty to sell your grain and not hoard it for yourself. Be generous, and have faith that the Lord will provide for you and reward you for your generosity.
And, to give us even more incentive to be generous, Solomon tells us that we will find that the generous man becomes more prosperous, and the stingy man will become poorer. The generous man may find that his wealth may increase. Others will think well of him, and may want to give him their business.
The generous man will find that others will remember his generosity, and help him if he has a time of need. And, he will prosper where it counts most – in his soul. He will become a spiritually richer human being. He will be blessed.
But the man who is not generous, who is miserly, selfish and stingy, will become poorer. He may become poorer as a person. His stinginess will shrink his soul. He may become poorer in his relationships. He may become poorer as to his wealth. Out of resentment toward him, people may stop doing business with him.
11:28 He who trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous will flourish like the green leaf. Don’t place your security, don’t derive your sense of well-being, from money. It can disappear so quickly. It can be stolen. It can’t buy you ultimate security. If you put your trust, if you derive your sense of security from your wealth, you will not have security. Your life will not achieve the peace, the happiness, the level of success that it could. You will not stand. You will fall.
Trust in God, who is alive, and real, and has infinite power and understanding, to be your provider. Have confidence that the One who gave the wealth of Egypt to the newly freed Jewish slaves as we were leaving Egypt can provide for you. Trust that the One who fed the nation of Israel for 40 years in the desert can take care of you.
The righteous – those who are right with God, and who are living the right way, and doing the right things, and who are not living for money, and who know that the real wealth is in Heaven, and not on Earth, and the lasting riches are part of their eternal inheritance, and who are trusting in God, and know that the Lord is their security, they will flourish. Their lives will be much better off. They will be like a green leaf in late spring or very early summer, while it is still young and fresh and healthy, and brimming with life and beauty and vitality, and is a pleasure to look at. They will truly be successful in the estimation of the One whose valuation counts the most.
11:30 The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he who is wise wins souls. The righteous produce fruit. Their lives, their knowledge, their beliefs, their faith, their actions, their words, produce very good things for themselves and others – things so good that Solomon compares them to the Aytz Chaim – the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden, the Tree of Life which will be in the New Jerusalem, which enables the person who eats from it to live forever! Wow! That should motivate us to be righteous, and produce lots of good deeds, blessed words, and holy thoughts.
And, the one who is chacham – wise, loh-keh-ach n’fah-shot – takes souls or wins souls. He knows that humans beings are born into a state of ignorance – about God, about Messiah, about salvation, about many of God’s wise ways. And so he knows that he is here on Earth to take these lives that are in need of redemption, from the dominion of darkness to the Kingdom of God, and from death to life, from ignorance to truth, from foolishness to wisdom. So he works, he acts, he speaks, he prays, with the purpose of taking fallen human beings from dark demonic deception and human ignorance into the light of truth. Are you wise? Do you know that a good part of the reason why you have come to know the Lord is so that you can take hold of, and get possession of and wins the lives of others to the truth, and salvation, and to the way of wisdom?
11:31 If the righteous will be rewarded in the Earth, how much more the wicked and the sinner! God has designed this universe in such a way that everything will be judged, and judged fairly according to the Lord’s standards. No one will get away with anything. Everything will be considered by the Judge, and the person rewarded or punished for every action, deed, thought, motive or word. What you sow, that you shall surely reap. There are consequences for everything.
All of us sin in many ways – even the righteous, and sometimes we will be judged for some of our sins in this life. We may have done things in the past, before we made a commitment to God and Messiah and doing what is right, and some of those that we are now embarrassed by and ashamed of can come back and cause problems in our lives.
Or, we may have failed in some ways and in some areas after we became followers of Messiah, and those things can cause us problems. Or, we may simply do some wrong things out of ignorance that will cause us pain.
Now, if God has designed this universe so that the righteous experience some of the unpleasant consequences of their sins while they are still here in this life, what do you think is going to happen to the rasha – the wicked individual who opposes and defies God and His good ways, and the choteh – the sinner, the one who falls short, the one who misses the mark, perhaps due to negligence or ignorance or laziness when, if he submitted himself to God, could and should have hit a bullseye?
Rebel against God, and spiritually negligent man or woman, you may think that you are getting away with something, but it is absolutely certain that you won’t! One way or another, in this life, or surely on the Day of Judgment, you will be punished for it. So, don’t sin! Don’t do something that you know is wrong. You won’t get away with it. It is not worth it! And, that goes for the righteous man and woman as well!