Proverbs 14:8 The wisdom of the prudent is to understand his way: but the folly of fools is deceit.

Believers Follow His Way

Every commentary I looked at had, in my opinion, a poor understanding of this particular proverb. Let’s break this down into its two parts and go a little deeper:

The WISDOM of the prudent is to understand his way

Word Study: As we have learned before, there is a difference between KNOWLEDGE and WISDOM. The first, KNOWLEDGE, is based on raw data or facts. The Scribes and Pharisees had knowledge of the Law. They were legal experts, trying to follow the 613 commandments of the Mosaic Law, as well as the thousands of Rabbinical Pronouncements (Mishnah & Gemara) as to what these Laws actually meant. Jesus chastised the Scribes and Pharisees. Like many religious people, they had the raw data (KNOWLEDGE), but lacked the WISDOM to apply that knowledge.

WISDOM or the ability to properly apply learned data comes not from man, but from God.

Proverbs 2:6 (ESV) For the Lord gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding;

James 1:5 (ESV) If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.

Psalm 119:98 (ESV) Your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies, for it is ever with me.

Word Study: The “PRUDENT” (Hebrew ʿārûm) is the one who is wise, shrewd, or sensible. This is a reference to the believer in Christ who heeds the Word of God. The “PRUDENT” asks God for wisdom so that we can “UNDERSTAND” not “his way”, as in the prudent person’s way. We ask God for wisdom so that we can understand “His way”, God’s Way.

When we follow our path, our desires, we are not prudent but foolish. When mankind walked away from God, and forsook His way, the Bible says:

Genesis 6:12 (KJV) God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.

It was then that God decided to destroy the earth by flood. Not because man was following his way, but because mankind had forsaken righteousness and was therefore forsaking His – God’s way. God blesses us when we follow His way, for God’s way is always right.

Psalm 18:30 (KJV) As for God, his way is perfect: the Word of the LORD is tried: He is a buckler to all those that trust in him.

When we humble ourselves before the Lord and seek His way, He promises us:

Psalm 25:9 (KJV) The meek will he guide in judgment: and the meek will he teach his way.

When the Word of God “became flesh and dwelt among us”, God clearly revealed to us the way we were to go. Jesus is called,

John 14:6 … THE WAY, the Truth, and the Life …

However, the lost walk a different way.

Proverbs 14:8 … but the folly of fools is deceit.

The “Fool” or godless person (Psalm 14:1; 53:1) rejects the Word and Wisdom of God. They cheat themselves out of the blessings that they could receive from God, if they would but repent. They deceive others and themselves. Jesus warned His children:

Matthew 10:16 (ESV) Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.

Walk carefully among the lost of this world. They will attempt to deceive you, as they have been deceived. The wages of sin will ALWAYS be DEATH (Romans 6:23). The road to death and destruction is wide. The road to glory is narrow.

Matthew 7:13-14 (NKJV) Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. 14 Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.

Fools Play With Death

Proverbs 14:9 Fools make a mock at sin: but among the righteous there is favor.

Again we are contrasting the lost (FOOLS) with the saved (the RIGHTEOUS). The foolish and godless person mocks and minimizes the dangers of sin. As one commentary notes:

“Sin is the transgression of the law; doing what God forbids, or omitting to do what He commands.”

Illustrate: Some mock sin because of sensual appetite. They wish to indulge their desires, so they minimize what they do. On one episode of the television show Frasier the father Martin was having an affair with a supposed Churched Christian. When she expressed discomfort at what they were doing, his reply was “We’re both adults – what’s the harm?” The harm is that fornication and other forms of sexual sin – physical intimate gratification outside of marriage – is considered sinful and destructive. In the United States there are more than 20 million cases of sexually transmitted diseases every year – many of them deadly or life altering.

Proverbs 1:7 (ESV) The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.

The fool does not want to hear the truth. I often see them rolling their eyes when I preach, or whispering to one another justification for their foolishness. Their “consciences are seared” (1 Timothy 4:2), and they have hardened their hearts to the truths of God’s Word. However, we are told that …

among the righteous there is favor

Those who are saved are open to the will and the Word of God. When the Christ follower steps out of the Spirit and into sin, they do not mock it, but repent of it. The Bible says:

Psalm 51:17 (ESV) The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

God “knows that we are dust” (Psalm 103:14), that though we who are saved by Grace are saved, that we do at times err. But when we err, we do not mock nor make light of our sin. We REPENT. In the Theology of Work we read:

“Knowing our weakness and dustiness, God is tender and compassionate. God’s love for us means that he does not abandon us in our limitations and sins. Rather, he looks upon us like a father with his own children. And, indeed, the Father loves us so much that he sent his only Son to bear our sin and open us up to the way of wholeness. … So, even as we acknowledge our limitations, our frailty, and our sin, we celebrate the fact that God understands who we are, and that He has come in Christ to do what we could never do on our own.”

God wants us to serve Him lovingly, but does not expect our perfection. We are “His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works” (Ephesians 2:10). The Bible tells us that – saved by Grace – we have the favor of God. We are told to:

Philippians 2:12-13 … work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. 13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

It is inconceivable that a genuine Christian would make light of sin. We know what sin cost our Jesus. We know what our sin caused Christ to go through.

We Cannot Judge The Heart Of A Person

Proverbs 14:10 The heart knoweth his own bitterness; and a stranger doth not intermeddle with his joy.

We cannot judge the heart of another. As believers, we are to judge the fruit of a life, the works that a person does. Jesus justified this type of judging. He said:

Matthew 7:15-20 (NKJV) Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. 16 You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? 17 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Therefore by their fruits you will know them.

We know if a “fruit” or a work of the life is right or wrong based upon the scale of God’s Word. God decrees right and wrong. If an action departs from God’s Word, then it is wrong.

We can judge the fruit of a life, but cannot judge anyone’s heart. As a pastor I have had to preach funeral for people who were faithful to the Church and apparently faithful to the Lord in their profession. Such people are easy to preach a funeral for, because the fruit or expressed work of their lives looked like “good fruit” from a “good tree”. But then there have been other funerals I have had to preach for people who did not exhibit “good fruit” in their lives, but were selfish, petty, mean spirited, argumentative, judgmental, and generally just a mess to be around. Some of these people, however, became afflicted, and went through what can be called a “deathbed confession”.

Were they saved? I cannot tell. I cannot judge the heart. Neither can you.

When the Prophet Job went through terrible affliction, his “friends” came to him and accused him of all sorts of evil. C.H. Spurgeon stated:

“We may not judge our brethren as though we understood them, and were competent to give a verdict upon them. Do not sit down, like Job’s friends, and condemn the innocent.”

The heart knows its own bitterness. Only I may know my heart. When God sent the Prophet Samuel to anoint a new King over Israel, Samuel thought it would be one of Jesse’s stronger sons. God told Samuel:

1 Samuel 16:7 (ESV) … Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.

Only God can see our hearts. Only God knows the heart – and the person whose heart it is knows it. 1 Corinthians 2:11 says, “For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him?”

Again, we can judge the works that we can see as righteous or unrighteous, but not the heart. In the early Church the bulk of the Church was Jewish, with a Jewish background. As Gentiles began to enter the Church, they brought with them their own customs that were not necessarily sinful. So the Lord directed the Church:

Romans 14:2-4 (NKJV) … one believes he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats only vegetables. 3 Let not him who eats despise him who does not eat, and let not him who does not eat judge him who eats; for God has received him. 4 Who are you to judge another’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand.

Proverbs 14:10 The heart knoweth his own bitterness; and a stranger doth not intermeddle with his joy.

Just as no one but you can know your own heart, no one but you can know the joy of your salvation. To know that joy, you must not be a stranger to it. You must call upon the Lord yourself. No one can be saved for you. But once saved, you will share in the sevenfold joy of salvation:

1. The JOY of pardoned sin.
2. The JOY of freedom from sin’s enslavement.
3. The JOY of unity and reconciliation with God your Father.
4. The JOY of accepted service.
5. The JOY of heard and answered prayer.
6. The JOY of peace even in the midst of storm.
7. The JOY of daily, hourly, minute by minute communion with God.

Eventually That Which Is Darkness Shall Die

Proverbs 14:11-12 The house of the wicked shall be overthrown: but the tabernacle of the upright shall flourish. 12 There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.

Word Study: In verse 11 there is a contrast between a “HOUSE” and a “TABERNACLE”. The “HOUSE” is the Hebrew bayiṯ (pronounced bah’-yith) which refers to a “home, household, dwelling habitation or shelter that is permanent”. The “TABERNACLE” is the Hebrew ōhel is a less temporary shelter like a tent.

The wicked or godless people build permanent structures meant to last, houses, monuments. But these permanent structures will not stand, for they “shall be overthrown”. A house built on evil is very weak. A life built on that which God has decreed is wrong will become dissipated. I saw a picture of Ellen Degeneres the other day with her “wife” Portia de Rossi. Two sadder people I have never seen. When Ellen first aired on television, she was a beautiful person. Now she looks worn out, and worn down. God has said:

Ezekiel 18:4 (ESV) … the soul who sins SHALL DIE

Romans 6:23 (ESV) … the wages of sin is DEATH

Proverbs 14:12 (ESV) There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is THE WAY TO DEATH

Ezekiel 18:20 (ESV) The soul who sins SHALL DIE

God will use a broken person who repents and turns to Him. But God will eventually either destroy, or allow the wicked to be destroyed, for evil and darkness cannot stand in permanence. Over the last four years when people began to push DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion), transgenderism on children, Drag Queen Story Hour at the Library, LGBTQ+ policies and celebratory months, same sex marriages, willful murder of children in the womb, far left or far right agendas I knew that the house of cards would collapse. Why? Because anything divorced from God and His Word and Truth will die.

Beloved, it doesn’t matter if it is a country, a community, or a Church – the house of the wicked WILL NOT STAND. God will not let it.

but the TABERNACLE (Tent) of the UPRIGHT shall FLOURISH

Word Study: The word “FLOURISH” is the Hebrew pāraḥ (pronounced paw-rakh’), which means “to blossom, to spring forth, to bud or send out shoots”. The righteous, though their home might be temporary, will produce abundant fruit because they follow the Lord. Jesus emphasized this in His parable:

John 15:1-7 (ESV) I am the true vine, and My Father is the vine dresser. 2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in Me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in Me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. 7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

The Christ follower must remember not to “drive your tent stakes too deeply”. This world is not our permanent home. We are headed toward God, toward Heaven. Jesus tells those who are His children by faith,

Matthew 6:19-21 (ESV) Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

King David wrote “I was envious of the arrogant, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked” (Psalm 73:3). He spoke truly, How often have we, have I, looked at the riches that the godless have, and thought what good I could do with those millions. Nancy Pelosi has robbed near half a billion dollars from American citizens during her political career. The Obamas have three of four multi-million dollar mansions they have purchased by making merchandise of the poor. The wicked women of The View make millions mocking sin and minimizing the God of the Bible. “They say, ‘How can God know? Is there knowledge in the Most High?’” (Psalm 73:11). David said,

Psalm 73:16-17 (ESV) But when I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task, 17 until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I discerned their end.

God has allowed the wicked to prosper for but a time. In time,

King Ahab will die a bloody death.
Queen Jezebel will be eaten by dogs.
Judas Iscariot will hang himself.
Samson will be blinded, and kill many Philistines.
King Herod Agrippa will be eaten by skin worms.
King Jehoram will die of a bowel disease.
Absalom, pretty Prince Absalom, will be hung by his hair.
General Sisera will fall asleep,
and have a tent peg driven in his head.
Fat King Eglon will be stabbed by a hidden dagger.
And the rich man will burn in hell,
while Lazarus is comforted.

There is a judgment day coming, and God will make right all that is wrong. Those who mocked God will stand before a Great White Throne (Revelation 20:11-15) and try and run away. In the end, every thing of permanence that the wicked sought to establish shall be torn down. The righteous shall flourish, though we have but tents. The house of the wicked shall not last.

I hope you’re on the right side.