Proverbs 24:1-22
Those who do evil can be a source of envy for us Christians (v. 1) or of fretfulness (v. 19; Psalms 37:1). But such feelings only prove our bad spiritual state. The sight of these poor sinners should arouse compassion and evangelical zeal in us to warn them and deliver them from death (Ezekiel 3:18; Acts 20:26). We should not use ignorance as an excuse for doing nothing. "He that pondereth the heart" (v. 12; cf. Proverbs 21:2) knows our true motives: lack of love, fear of reproach, weakness of our own convictions.
But why do wicked people seem to have an easy life while believers are often severely tested? The key to this problem is provided for us in one word – the future. "There shall be no future to the evil," (v. 20; JND trans.); his end is eternal perdition to which he is led without resistance (cf. Psalms 73:17). He stumbles into disaster (v. 16; JND trans.). On the other hand "there shall be a reward" (v. 14) for the one who has found Wisdom, this divine Wisdom which is a Person – Christ Himself (Proverbs 8:22 . . .). And the expectation of the believer will not come to nothing, for its object is still the same Person: the Lord Jesus who is coming again.