Don’t Gain The Whole World Just To Lose Your Soul

¹⁰ My son, if sinful men entice you,
do not give in to them.
¹¹ If they say, “Come along with us;
let’s lie in wait for innocent blood,
let’s ambush some harmless soul;
¹² let’s swallow them alive, like the grave,
and whole, like those who go down to the pit;
¹³ we will get all sorts of valuable things
and fill our houses with plunder;
¹⁴ cast lots with us;
we will all share the loot”-
¹⁵ my son, do not go along with them,
do not set foot on their paths;
¹⁶ for their feet rush into evil,
they are swift to shed blood.
¹⁷ How useless to spread a net
where every bird can see it!
¹⁸ These men lie in wait for their own blood;
they ambush only themselves!
¹⁹ Such are the paths of all who go after ill-gotten gain;
it takes away the life of those who get it.

Wicked Works

Solomon, the wisest man to ever walk the Earth (with the exception of Jesus Christ), penned these words to help his son, and us, to glean from the supernatural wisdom that God imparted to him.

While it may be obvious to many that aligning ourselves with wicked men (and women!) is to be avoided, the wicked acts of men are readily seen and understood.  It is the more subtle acts of men that do not seem on the surface to be wicked that we are to avoid as well.

Wicked Words

Men (and women!) have learned how to play on the fears of others to get them to do what they want them to do.  The modern term is social engineering.  Most people will respond to someone who speaks in an authoritative voice to them, because they have been taught by their parents to be respectful and obey authority.  Although that may no longer be the case with our youngest generation, we react this way naturally.  Other types of psychological manipulation are used by these people as well.

Men (and women!) will also try to lure us into doing evil things by making good sound evil, and evil sound good.  They will play on our desire to “get ahead”, or fulfill a need in a way that does not honor God.  Humans have a natural capacity to justify our actions when our consciences bother us.  We avoid pain as much as possible, and we are then placed in circumstances where we will have to make a (often life-altering painful) decision to honor God, or go another way.

Wondering Why?

There are many reasons why we should avoid the advice of wicked people.  Solomon lists several:

• Their feet rush into evil.
  • Rather than seek God to honor him with their minds and hands, they rush headlong into evil, both ignorant of its eventual outcome, as well as the consequences here in the physical realm.
• They are swift to shed blood.
  • These people care nothing about each other, nor others.  They are swift to shed blood, as long as it benefits them somehow.  They do not have any concept of the value of human life, and may even traffic in it so that they can gain wealth and power.
• The consequences are that others will see our actions plainly.
  • These people think that they are operating in darkness, when their deeds are made plain to the world!  But the question becomes, does the world even care?
• The outcome is that they figuratively (and sometimes literally) shed their own blood!
  • Rather than do harm to their intended victims, they harm the very people they are attempting to protect – themselves!  Like Esau, they spurn their inheritance and gladly trade it for a little physical comfort.
• Their eventual end is that they have ambushed themselves towards a specific end.
  • Their eventual outcome is that when they die, they cannot take their ill-gotten gains with them.  They must then face Almighty God before the White Throne Seat of Judgment, and pay at that time the most steep price imaginable – their eternal soul – for what they have done in the flesh.

Death and Destruction

The eventual outcome of these people is that they face death and destruction of their souls.  Discernment is required to avoid the schemes that others use to try to entice us into doing what they want us to do:

• Balaam advised the enemy women to use their bodies to entice the men of Israel to sin and so cause a plague to come upon them.
• Shemaiah tried to get Nehemiah to sin against God by hiding in the temple by falsely prophesying, being paid by Tobiah and Sanballat to do so…
• The serpent convinced Eve that the fruit of the knowledge of Good and Evil was good to eat, would not cause death, and impugned the character of Almighty God.

The only way to avoid these schemes is to put on the full armor of God, spend time with God in His word and prayer, and learn to discern when to spurn that which will burn.

A Qualifying Question

Let’s ask a question:  Am I rightly discerning good and evil?

A short prayer of preparation

Father in Heaven, You are pure, holy, without blemish or spot.  You greatly desire all people to walk in holiness and righteousness before You.  Help me to rightly discern when others are trying to do me harm.  Help me when I inadvertently find myself cornered by the deeds of wicked men intent on destroying me, my family, my career, or my character.  Father, protect me from the wickedness of others, and help me to see Your wisdom, will, and way so that I may keep myself and my family from harm’s way.  And when You do allow wicked men and women to place me in circumstances that I did not willingly choose, I pray, Father, that You would deliver me from them just as You delivered Peter from the jailers.  This I ask in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Want more?  Why not try A. B. Simpson or A. W. Tozer?