4/6/2025
Turn with me to Proverbs 19:8-10. These are our verses to study and memorize this week.
Proverbs 19:8-10 He who gets wisdom loves his own soul; He who keeps understanding will find good. 9 A false witness will not go unpunished, And he who tells lies will perish. 10 Luxury is not fitting for a fool; Much less for a slave to rule over princes.
Introduction
These verses transition us into the middle of our three sub-sections which are all focusing on wisdom for life’s relationships. This middle section expands our look at relationships beyond friends to broader relationships within society. Verses 9 and 10 will give us 3 ways of living in society which are not fitting: an unpunished false witness, a fool living in luxury, and a slave ruling over leaders. Verses 11 and 12 look at anger and discretion internally within oneself and then externally in a ruler. All of these are important issues that will impact society and our relationships with people.
Before we begin examining God’s specific wisdom for these issues, our main transition verse gives a key principle that needs to be kept in view. It is the true foundation for finding good in all of our relationships whether in the family, among friends, or in the broader society. Do you want what is truly best for your life? Do you want to find good in your relationships? Proverbs 19:8 give us direct guidance on what we need to do to have this.
Likewise, do you want to have a society that thrives and works as it should? Do you want to know what we should be avoiding and what we should be doing? Verses 9 and 10 will give us some principles for us to keep in mind and work towards. They also give us a gauge for seeing where a society is at in producing the good that it was designed to do.
With that overview, let’s take a closer look at Proverbs 19:8-10.
8 He who gets wisdom loves his own soul; He who keeps understanding will find good.
The one who seeks God’s wisdom for life cares about his eternal soul. In living out God’s wisdom people find good. This proverb emphasizes that getting and abiding by wisdom is what is truly best for people’s lives.
In English this proverb is translated into a very direct and clear statement that the one who gets wisdom loves himself. In Hebrew, though, this proverb makes us stop and work at its meaning a bit. The word translated “wisdom” here is not the normal word for wisdom. Instead, it is the more vague and general word for “heart.” The one getting “heart” loves his own soul. That is a lot more ambiguous than wisdom. In our most recent use of the word “heart” in Proverbs it is used negatively about a fool whose heart rages against the Lord (Proverbs 19:3). Getting or having that kind of heart is not the kind of heart that is truly loving one’s own soul! Likewise, in Proverbs 9 both Lady Wisdom and Madame Folly call out to the naïve who lack heart to come to them. The hearts that we end up having are shaped more and more by what we pursue. If we pursue wickedness we will end up with a very evil heart.
When we understand the universality of sin in every one of our lives, as Romans 3:23, Ecclesiastes 7:20, and Psalms 14:1-3, 53:1-3 emphasize, we see that wickedness has infected every single one of our hearts. Jeremiah 17:9 lays bare the depravity within all of our hearts:
Jeremiah 17:9 “The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it?
Our hearts are wicked and sick beyond understanding. They have been perverted from God’s original righteous design for them. We deceive even ourselves about our motives and actions. Even the best person is not nearly as good as they might like to think that they are.
Given all this reality the question arises. How is getting a heart loving one’s own soul here? If every person’s heart is already tainted, sick, and wicked how is anything good going to come out of it? What are we supposed to be getting? The second part of the proverb helps shed light on this. “He who keeps understanding will find good.” In these kinds of proverbs the second half of the proverb restates in different words the first part and sometimes adds additional truth. Just as loving one’s own soul is a similar result to finding good, so too getting a heart in this verse is comparable to keeping understanding. To keep understanding would be to live out the wisdom one has come to know from God. It is to faithfully and honorably live out what one knows to be true and right. From that we can see that getting a heart stands for getting the wise and good heart which all of us are naturally lacking.
It is important to remember here that in Hebrew thinking the heart is everything that encapsulates who we are, how we think, and what we feel that goes into the decisions we make. Since we are by nature sinners, as descendents of Adam, the one and only way to love our own souls is to get the wisdom and righteousness which will transform our hearts. Without that we will only continue our spiral down to death and God’s judgment.
This is exactly why here in the book of Proverbs we are told over and over again to live in the fear of the Lord and that this fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom which we are to seek. We must know our sinfulness, the wickedness of our own hearts, and of God’s righteousness and justice. Only then will we go to Him in humility for redemption from that sin and for rescue from His holy and just judgment. Only then will we see our foolishness and our need for His wisdom in everything. It is only by trusting in the Lord with all our heart, leaning not into our own understanding, and acknowledging Him in all our ways that His wisdom and guidance will direct our paths (Proverbs 3:5-6). When this is our situation then we have truly gotten a heart—a good, purified, righteous heart.
This is the positive kind of heart that we must get and have for our souls to experience good. The second half of the proverb also explicitly emphasizes that this heart, this wisdom that we are getting, is not just a knowledge. It is not just an awareness of facts. It is not just a one time consideration. There has to be a transformation of our inner being which is reflected in a new ongoing way of life. We keep understanding. We live out what we know day by day. We truly believe the wisdom that we acknowledge. It changes our actions and behaviors moving forward. When the “heart” is right like this, the soul will benefit. All of one’s life is improved and helped by having God’s perspective guide our lives. Thus we will indeed find good. It is only when we see our own sin and foolishness alongside of turning to trust in the wise salvation and life which is found in Jesus Christ that true good comes. As we cling by faith to Jesus’ wisdom and redeemed way of life we can rest assured that we will have what is truly best in this life and eternally. This is true even if it takes us through persecutions, trials, or suffering.
This foundational reminder needs to be the basis of our lives and of all our relationships. How we live in relation to our spouses, our friends, and our other acquaintances needs to be based off of a changed heart in relation to God which follows His wisdom. Only then will we find true, lasting good in those relationships. If we live our lives off of the natural wickedness and sin of our perverted, selfish hearts we will end up hurting our relationships with everyone else. Selfishness, deception, and sin will not ultimately bring about good with other people in society.
Scriptural Example: In Scripture we see a vivid example of this proverb in the life of Daniel. As a young man he was taken captive from Judah to Babylon to be trained to serve in the king’s court because of his intelligence. Right away he was given a new name connected to the gods of Babylon, Belteshazzar (Daniel 1:7, 4:8). Yet, at the very beginning he decided to keep seeking and following the one true God. He determined only to eat undefiled foods. He wanted to get and keep wisdom. He was committed to that throughout his life. Doing that as a captive in the midst of a foreign country with foreign gods was no easy thing.
Daniel had to respectfully and wisely find a way to avoid the meats and wines that had been offered to the false gods. Under threat of death he had to seek God for wisdom on how to know and interpret the king’s hidden dreams. He had to be a faithful advisor in the midst of successive pagan kings and kingdoms. He even had to proclaim God’s imminent judgment to one of the kings as the nation was being conquered. Famously, he also had to decide between being faithful to continue to publicly pray to God and be thrown into a lion’s den, or to try hide his faith and allegiance. Through it all he made the decisions to keep pursuing God’s wisdom and to keep publicly walking in obedience to it.
To do this he had to trust that in each of his circumstances following and obeying God was best and right. When he did not know what the future would bring he had to entrust it and all the consequences of his walking in God’ wisdom to God. He had to look beyond his immediate situations and even the real threat of his death to trust that living for God would bring eternal good even if it brought his physical death. This is what he did time and time again. Daniel trusted that his pursuit and obedience to God’s wisdom would bring good to his soul even if it meant horrible suffering and death to his body. Truly Daniel embodied this proverb in his commitment to getting a wise heart and keeping understanding. He truly trusted in God’s way of redemption and living. Truly it blessed his soul eternally and brought much good.
Proverb in Comparison: When we compare this proverb with the rest of Scripture we see that this is the choice that we face each and every day. Both Lady Wisdom and Madame Folly are calling out to us to fill our hearts with what they have to offer. The question is, how will we respond to them? Will we be like Daniel and turn to God’s wisdom? Or will we follow the fleshly, selfish inclinations of our hearts and try to live as our own god by our own wisdom? Will we turn from our natural, sinful, wicked hearts of sin to calling out to God to be cleansed, redeemed, forgiven, and remade? Or will we continue on living by the desires of our broken, empty, sinful hearts? If we value our eternal souls we will not continue to defy God. We will do as Proverbs 2 commands and warns.
Proverbs 2:1 My son, if you will receive my words And treasure my commandments within you, 2 Make your ear attentive to wisdom, Incline your heart to understanding; 3 For if you cry for discernment, Lift your voice for understanding; 4 If you seek her as silver And search for her as for hidden treasures; 5 Then you will discern the fear of the LORD And discover the knowledge of God. 6 For the LORD gives wisdom; From His mouth come knowledge and understanding. 7 He stores up sound wisdom for the upright; He is a shield to those who walk in integrity, 8 Guarding the paths of justice, And He preserves the way of His godly ones. 9 Then you will discern righteousness and justice And equity and every good course. 10 For wisdom will enter your heart And knowledge will be pleasant to your soul; 11 Discretion will guard you, Understanding will watch over you, 12 To deliver you from the way of evil, From the man who speaks perverse things; 13 From those who leave the paths of uprightness To walk in the ways of darkness; 14 Who delight in doing evil And rejoice in the perversity of evil; 15 Whose paths are crooked, And who are devious in their ways; 16 To deliver you from the strange woman, From the adulteress who flatters with her words; 17 That leaves the companion of her youth And forgets the covenant of her God; 18 For her house sinks down to death And her tracks lead to the dead; 19 None who go to her return again, Nor do they reach the paths of life. 20 So you will walk in the way of good men And keep to the paths of the righteous. 21 For the upright will live in the land And the blameless will remain in it; 22 But the wicked will be cut off from the land And the treacherous will be uprooted from it.
A number of other proverbs that we have already looked at in our study of proverbs helpfully speak of those who lack this wise heart and of the importance of getting a wise heart.
Proverbs 4:23 commands keeping watch over one’s heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life. The wise of heart know the value of God’s wisdom and make sure their hearts and lives remain in it.
Proverbs 7:7 speaks of the naïve who lack heart and become susceptible to the wicked woman. The ones lacking wisdom allow themselves to be stealthily overtaken by pornography, lust, and other immoral behavior.
Proverbs 10:13 speaks of wisdom being found on the lips of the discerning, and a rod being for him who lacks heart. The one lacking wisdom reaps hard consequences and needs correction.
Proverbs 10:21 speaks of fools dying because of lack of heart. The one lacking wisdom destroys themselves with their foolish decisions.
Proverbs 11:12 speaks of the one who despises his neighbor as lacking heart. The one lacking God’s wisdom looks down on others and does not love them.
Proverbs 12:11 speaks of the one who pursues worthless things as lacking heart. The one lacking God’s wisdom wastes their life on worthless, empty pursuits.
Proverbs 15:21 says folly is a joy to him who lacks heart. The one lacking God’s wisdom delights in foolish, sinful things.
Proverbs 17:18 describes one who lacks heart as becoming surety for his neighbor. The one lacking God’s heart of wisdom is foolish in their money decisions and commitments.
Proverbs 17:16 says that the fool has money to buy or acquire wisdom, but he has no heart to actually do it. Many a fool has the opportunity to get wisdom, but they do not have the wisdom to see their desperate need to pursue being wise of heart.
Proverbs 15:32 says that the one who neglects discipline despises himself, but he who listens to reproof gets, buys, or acquires a heart.
Truth in Connection: From all that we can see that if we value our souls, if we would want to see good, if we want to have our relationships produce the good that God designed them to have we will determine to get wisdom. Then we will keep walking in it despite the temptations to do otherwise. We will not look to ourselves for wisdom. We will not look to human psychology and academia for true wisdom. We will look to God, our Creator, for true wisdom. We will aware of the many snares to depart from God’s wisdom which the world and our own flesh will throw at us. Through it all we will determine in our hearts to do whatever God’s wisdom points out to us on His pathway of righteousness.
Have you made getting and keeping wisdom your absolute, non-negotiable determination like Daniel did? Are you actually pursuing God’s wisdom through spending time in His Word, talking about it, considering carefully what it looks like in your current circumstances, and then doing it? Or are you allowing yourself to actually be more influenced by the attractive but deceptive calls of the world’s way of doing things? Music, movies, friends, news, TV, internet, AI, and social media are all crying out with their wares 24/7. Whose wisdom are you listening to? What kind of heart are you getting, and living by? If you value your soul you will choose to tune out the world’s way and tune in to God’s way.
All of this starts, by seeing your sin and the death that it brings. Then turn to Jesus as your Lord and Savior. We cannot remove our own sin. We cannot fix our wayward hearts. We do not have the wisdom, determination, and ability on our own to change. We do not have the ability to pay for our sins and become righteous. We need to trust in Jesus to make our hearts righteous.
We need to trust Jesus to give us the wisdom to see and do what is righteous. We need Jesus to give us life and take away our death. Only He can do all this. He went to the cross to take our place, to bear our punishment for our sin upon Himself, to overcome sin and death, and to exchange that for His perfect righteousness. He was buried, and then rose from the grave to show His power over that sin and death as He redeemed us.
Cast yourself on His amazing love, mercy, and grace. Trust Him as your Lord and Savior. As we do, He gives us life, eternal life. He gives us His Spirit to indwell us and enable us to walk in His new redeemed way of life. He has given us His Word as His wisdom, guidance, and encouragement for everything in life that we go through. He has adopted us as His children and given us one another as brothers and sisters to help and encourage each other. He is enabling us to together proclaim His redemption, wisdom, and life to the world. Let us indeed daily continue to get His wisdom, hold fast to it, and share it with others. It is indeed the wisdom that we need to find God’s eternal good for ours souls. Will you get a wise heart and hold onto God’s wisdom through all of life’s circumstances?
This expression “will find good” that Proverbs 19:8 ends with is an intentional theme marker. Solomon put it here both as a needed reminder of its foundational truth for what we ought to be seeking in our relationships, as well as to help connect these sections of proverbs together with each other. We saw this expression back in proverbs 18:22 when this whole section began. It told us that the one who finds a godly wife has God’s favor and finds a good thing. In these upcoming verses we are still continuing that focus of finding good in our relationships as we hold onto God’s wisdom. This verse thus becomes a transition and connecting verse. We have not moved off into something entirely new even though the focus of the next number of verses will transition to looking at broader relationships in society.
Verses 9 and 10 give us three behaviors that must not be allowed to run rampant in society. The first behavior to be avoided is having false witnesses. The second is having fools living in luxury, and the third is having slaves rule over princes. If these are allowed to happen it will not be good for society and relationships. Let’s take a closer look now at verse 9.
9 A false witness will not go unpunished, And he who tells lies will perish.
Those who try to destroy other people with lies will themselves be destroyed by their deceit. This proverb emphasizes that liars will end up bringing about their own downfall with their wickedness.
Verse 5 and verse 9 are almost identical. The only differences are in the endings and in the surrounding contexts of the verses. This repetition, like with the repetition of finding good in 18:22 and 19:8, also helps tie all of these verses in the larger section together. However, the different contexts and the different endings push us to see the additional meaning that is intended.
In Proverbs 19:5 the verse is right in the middle of two verses dealing with friendships and the affect of money. In court cases there can be a temptation for money to affect relationships and disputes to the point that people might give false testimony against others. That verse warns us that if people give in to that they will not get away with it. Money and friendship must not affect our truthfulness and honesty.
Here in Proverbs 19:9 our verse is identical to 19:5 except that it adds that liars “will perish.” That difference is a significant expansion on “not escaping.” It is not just that people will not get away unscathed. Their doom is sure and set. Additionally, as we are reminded by the context of the coming verses, a court situation is a public setting that affects the broader society. This is not just an individual relationship issue. When things are not the way they are supposed to be in the courts, it is not good for all of society. Thus the consequences are steep for giving a false witness. Lies must not be tolerated in a court system for a society to reap good. A false witness who gets away with their lies is not fitting at all for those working to get and keep God’s wisdom in their hearts. It is incompatible with God’s righteous redeemed way of life. If we want to find good in our relationships we must base all of them on the truth. This proverb shows us that if we do not hold to the truth, we will reap the consequences. We will perish.
Scriptural Example: In Scripture we see an example of this proverb in Jeremiah 28 with the false prophet Hananiah. In Jeremiah 27 Jeremiah had been prophesying from Jerusalem about Judah and the surrounding nations. They were being given by God into the hands of Babylon for three generations. They were warned not to listen to any false prophets who said anything different. Rather they were to submit to that yoke for this time period. To picture this reality, Jeremiah had been instructed to make a physical yoke to wear while he made his prophecy. Chapter 28 then describes what happened next.
Jeremiah 28:1-4 Now in the same year, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the fourth year, in the fifth month, Hananiah the son of Azzur, the prophet, who was from Gibeon, spoke to me in the house of the LORD in the presence of the priests and all the people, saying, 2 “Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon. 3 ‘Within two years I am going to bring back to this place all the vessels of the LORD’S house, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took away from this place and carried to Babylon. 4 ‘I am also going to bring back to this place Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and all the exiles of Judah who went to Babylon,’ declares the LORD, ‘for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.’”
Jeremiah responded with a warning that a true prophet would be known by whether their prophecy came to pass. In response to that, Hananiah doubled down on his prophecy. He broke the yoke that Jeremiah had made to represent how they needed to respond to God’s judgment on Judah. God did not appreciate these lies and false witness against Himself. This is how He responded:
Jeremiah 28:12-17 The word of the LORD came to Jeremiah after Hananiah the prophet had broken the yoke from off the neck of the prophet Jeremiah, saying, 13 “Go and speak to Hananiah, saying, ‘Thus says the LORD, “You have broken the yokes of wood, but you have made instead of them yokes of iron.” 14 ‘For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, “I have put a yoke of iron on the neck of all these nations, that they may serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and they will serve him. And I have also given him the beasts of the field.”’” 15 Then Jeremiah the prophet said to Hananiah the prophet, “Listen now, Hananiah, the LORD has not sent you, and you have made this people trust in a lie. 16 “Therefore thus says the LORD, ‘Behold, I am about to remove you from the face of the earth. This year you are going to die, because you have counseled rebellion against the LORD.’” 17 So Hananiah the prophet died in the same year in the seventh month.
Within two months of his false testimony God took Hananiah’s life. God takes lies very seriously. They can harmfully affect so many. It is not good for a society to have people being condemned by false witnesses or believing lies. For a society to thrive relationships need to be built on truth. Ultimately God will bring the consequences of sin upon people. Their lies will catch up to them. No one will escape Him.
Proverb in Comparison: When we compare this with the rest of Scripture we see God meting out this same justice upon Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5. Separately they both claimed before the people and God that they were giving everything to God from the sale of their property. That was a direct lie. God was not going to put up with the early foundations for relationships in the church being laid with self-exalting lies. He ended both of their lives. “He who tells lies will perish.” God does not always exact His justice so quickly, but it is what our sin deserves. It is what it will ultimately reap.
Truth in Connection: As we connect this to our lives, we need to remind ourselves of this truth when we are tempted to lie. It leads to death. As we mentioned in our discussion of Proverbs 19:5 Satan is the father of lies, and God is the God of truth. When we lie we identify ourselves with Satan and follow his way of life. If we are truly children of God, then our lives ought to reflect that in the truthfulness of our words and in the righteousness of our lives. This is true both for our personal lives, as well as for our interactions within society. Life is sustained and promoted by the truth, not lies. Lies destroy.
Therefore, it is not fitting or healthy for a society to have lies be tolerated in the court system or in public life. When they are tolerated and rampant within a society it is evidence of its extreme unhealthiness. It breeds corruption and abuse. Far from producing good it leads to decline and ruin.
Our next verse adds two more realities which are also not helpful for society.
10 Luxury is not fitting for a fool; Much less for a slave to rule over princes.
It is incongruous with God’s design of creation for fools to indulge in comforts and even more so for slaves to rule over leaders. This proverb emphasizes that it is “not fitting” for the least morally qualified to be enjoying the greatest enjoyments in life. It is even more so “not fitting” for the least trained, least qualified, and the least wise to lead over those who are carefully prepared to do so.
In other places in Scripture the word for luxury here has to do with the pampering that parents would give to a doted on child (Micah 1:16), with the pleasantness of a house one enjoyed (Micah 2:9), and with the delights of marital love (SS. 7:7 and Eccl. 2:8). So this is saying that it just does not fit with the way things ought to be for a fool to be enjoying all the good, delightful things in life. As we saw back in Proverbs 19:3, the end result of foolishness is that it ruins one’s way. That is the natural outcome and consequences of foolish, God-defying ways of living. Thus it is a bad thing for a society if fools are the ones enjoying the “good life.” Things are upside down. Evil is being celebrated, exalted, and magnified. When this occurs it is not good for society. Wrong is being exalted and right is being trodden under foot. While that may last for a season, it will ultimately lead to the ruin of a society the more that it occurs.
When it is an oddity and a rarity for fools to be the rich, leading citizens of a country then right is still broadly considered to be right and wrong is still broadly considered to be wrong. In this case, the fool is not exalted, but is seen to be the outlier whose way of life will catch up to them. However, when it is the common thing for the celebrities, musicians, sports icons, “influencers,” and business leaders of the day to be wicked, immoral, lying, deceiving, foolish people it is a very bad sign for society. People will emulate them. Those dangerous ways of living will then expand and ruin the nation.
What is even worse than that, though, is when slaves rule over princes. In our day and age that expression may seem to fall quite flat. We do not have slaves or kings and princes. So we have to step back and understand what this meant. In ancient times the nobles and princes were carefully prepared to lead the nation. They learned right and wrong, economics, trade, foreign languages, how to have people follow you, how to lead, how to negotiate, how to protect the nation militarily, etc. They were prepared to wisely make decisions that would affect all of the people within the nation.
On the other hand a slave generally would not have had any of that experience or guidance. They would have been trained in manual labor. They would not have had much experience managing, leading, or decision making. Rather, they would have been managed, led, and told what to do their whole life. To have the least qualified and trained person making decisions for a whole nation is a recipe for disaster—especially when there are well prepared people available to rule, lead, guide, and judge the nation. If a society wants to thrive and find good then the relationships between people need to follow God’s design.
It is not God’s design to have the celebrated people who are enjoying the luxuries of life be wicked, immoral fools who defy Him. Foolishness and sin need to be judged by society as they deserve. Justice, fairness, and righteousness need to be maintained. When it is not, fools will be exalted, celebrated, and imitated—leading to ruin.
Likewise, for a society to thrive and find good its leaders must be those who are trained and prepared to lead wisely. Those who lead others have the greatest impact on the most number of people. One foolish individual enjoying luxuries they do not deserve will impact the people around them and can cause harm, but the impact is far greater when the leaders guiding organizations, churches, businesses, and governments are foolish, misguided, and wicked. Their foolishness can bring ruin upon untold numbers of people.
Scriptural Example: In Scripture perhaps the most striking example of both luxury not being fitting for a fool and a slave ruling over princes is found in Satan’s rule over this earth. He was a created servant of God who was to reflect God’s glory. He was not designed to rule over this earth and all things. He is not God, nor God’s steward of this earth. Yet, he rebelled against God, deceived Eve, and got Adam to follow him in trying to be like God. Defying God and trying to take His place is the ultimate foolishness. Yet through it Satan usurped man’s authority on this earth. He got him to abdicate his rightful authority to him, and enslaved mankind to sin. Thus Satan exalted himself as ruler of this earth over those that God designed to rightfully steward and enjoy His creation. All of that has perverted everything from the way it was supposed to be. It is not fitting. It is the opposite of the way it is supposed to be. It has not led to good. It has led to ruin, devastation, suffering, misery, and more and more wickedness. That is what doing things outside of God’s design leads to. That is what happens when foolishness is exalted and emulated. That is what happens when the slave rules over princes. It is not fitting. It ruins relationships and societies.
Proverb in Comparison: When we compare this proverb with the rest of Scripture some aspects of it could seem to be at odds with the words of Jesus where He said that the first would be last and the last first (Matthew 19:30, 20:16, Mark 10:31, Luke 13:30). It might also seem incongruous with His declarations that the servant of all would be the greatest within His kingdom (Matthew 23:11-12, Mark 9:35, 10:43-45, Luke 22:26-27). These teachings could seem to argue against there being anything wrong with a slave ruling over princes. However, when we see that this proverb is not talking about the worth or value of individuals, or of “class systems” but rather the fitness and training needed to lead wisely we see that there is no contradiction here. The best prepared leader is one who serves the people by learning and doing what is best for them even when it is hard. Thus neither a self-exalting person nor an ignorant person are truly going to be fit for service as a leader. Neither one is going to do what is truly good for society.
Truth in Connection: As we connect this to our lives we see the importance of seeking God’s wisdom for how we live in our relationships with one another and in the character traits that we promote and allow to flourish within society. If we allow things outside of God’s good and right design to become rampant in society it will ruin it. Having false witnesses and lies tolerated will only but corrupt and destroy. To find good, society needs the truth. Having fools as the leading citizens who are looked up to and emulated will lead to more foolishness. The corruption of society will expand as people pursue the “good life” in wicked ways. To find good society needs righteousness to be rewarded, celebrated, and exalted. Having leaders who are not fit morally and experientially to lead wisely will result in harm to a nation. To find good, society needs to entrust leadership responsibilities to those morally, physically, mentally, and temperamentally prepared for them.
We need to live by the truth if we want our society to prosper. We need to take care to praise, exalt, and reward righteousness—not foolishness—if we do not want people hurt by fools living out their luxurious wickedness. We need to take care to fittingly train people to be able to carry out their responsibilities if we want individuals, families, churches, businesses, and government to prosper. As we can, we need to vote with our words, actions, and wallet not to support wickedness and foolishness within society.
The more these sinful behaviors of false witnesses, lies, fools living in exalted luxury, and unqualified leaders become rampant in a society the more damage a society will sustain. The more evil is tolerated and exalted the more it will spread and bring ruin.
Conclusion
How then should we respond to all this? Get God’s wisdom. Keep living by God’s wisdom.
If you do not know Jesus as your Lord and Savior, then see the destruction that sin causes in society, in relationships, and in your own life. Admit your need for God’s forgiveness of your sin, for God’s transformation of your life, and for God’s wisdom in every area of life. Then turn from sin’s destructive way of life and trust in Jesus as your Lord and Savior. There is salvation in none other. “There is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12, KJV). Salvation from sin and from the ruin it causes is found in Jesus Christ alone. He died on the cross to pay the penalty for our sin and to give us life. Will you personally trust Him as your Lord and Savior?
If you have trusted Him as your Lord, then be reminded here of the dangerous results of going back to the world’s way of doing things. Get God’s wisdom for every area of life and then hold on to it. Keep living by it. Be refreshed by it in God’s Word day by day. Learn it more. Avoid lies. Hold to the truth. Exalt wisdom, not foolishness. Be a godly, wise leader in your spheres. Train godly, wise leaders in society. In essence, make disciples of Jesus as He entrusted us the responsibility to do. Continually share Jesus’ redemption and wisdom with others. Then rejoice in the greatness, goodness, sovereignty, and love of our God and Savior through whatever happens.
If you have any questions on any of this or want help in coming to know Jesus as your Lord and Savior please come talk with us. We are available. Let’s pray.
© 2025, Kevin A. Dodge, All rights reserved.
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible® (NASB),Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. www.Lockman.org
English (US) · 