We are an example to the vulnerable

 Read Proverbs 21

There is God’s way and there is everything else.  There are those committed to God’s way.  Solomon would label them the wise and the righteous.

There are those who rebel against God’s way and live in the everything else.  Solomon would label them mockers and the wicked.

There is yet, another classification to consider.  It is the simple.  This is one who has not been brought up in the way he or she should go.  They don’t know God’s way from the everything else.  They are vulnerable but not yet lost. They may be on the road to destruction, but they have not set destruction as their destination on their GPS, not yet anyway.

Think back to who was most vulnerable to the adulterous woman or the woman known as folly.  It wasn’t the wise.  It wasn’t the wicked.  The wicked were neither tricked nor trapped by the adulterous woman.  They threw in with her. Their lots had been cast together.

Who was vulnerable?  The simple. 

Now consider if the simple are doomed to be foolish and wicked and lost.

When a mocker is punished, the simple gain wisdom;

    by paying attention to the wise they get knowledge.

Solomon tells us that when justice is done, the simple take note.  Punishment is an eye-opener.  It’s different than discipline.  We discipline our children out of love.

Punishment is a severe consequence for an offense.  In this country we like terms like rehabilitation, correctional facility, and the like.  But 25 years behind bars is punishment and is intended as such by the laws of men. The death sentence is punishment.  Punishment comes out of necessity in addressing the offense with something of legitimate consequence and hopes of deterring others from lawlessness.

Criminals, lawbreakers, and those who rebel against God are punished, and the simple notice.  The simple have a chance to learn.

Punishment is a negative example, but Solomon goes on to say that the simple can learn from the example of the wise. Between the negative example of punishment for those who rebel against God’s laws and man’s and the positive example of the wise, the simple have a chance at life.

What does that tell us?  The vulnerable look to us to be a good example.  What we do matters beyond ourselves and our immediate families.  People who have a chance to seek God’s way are watching.

The wicked don’t care.  The foolish have already declared there is no God.  The mockers are just asking for it, but the simple still have a chance to seek God and what we do matters to them.

Consider the riots of last year.  People destroyed property, threatened lives, and sometimes took lives and little was done.  We all noticed.  The wise among you knew that such consent to lawlessness by those in power would come at a cost, but it was the vulnerable who paid the biggest price.

They saw lawlessness and no sanction or punishment and their lesson was that doing the right thing doesn’t matter.  The absence of punishment for the lawless led those most vulnerable astray.

We knew what was happening and rejected it in some way though we did not have the power to influence the situation.  We had the knowledge and authority to declare it ungodly and reject it as an acceptable example for those in power.

The simple—the vulnerable had no such acumen.  They were taught that lawlessness comes without consequence.  For many in this nation, that was the case, but for humankind, we know that God will not accept lawlessness.

He stands ready for confession and repentance and promises forgiveness, but he doesn’t turn a blind eye to lawlessness.

If you are already seeking God first in your life, this isn’t news.  If you have rejected him and tuned him out, you don’t care, but the simple are at risk when the powers that be embrace lawlessness.

The righteous continue to provide the positive example, but if the consequence for lawlessness is removed, the simple really have the odds stacked against them.

What do we do?

When in a position of authority, exercise wisdom and justice.

When not in authority, let your light shine even brighter because the darkness has been embraced by so many in the world.

And along the way thank God that you are not numbered among the wicked or the simple, that he has claimed you forever and you live in his favor.

When a mocker is punished, the simple gain wisdom;

    by paying attention to the wise they get knowledge.

Thanks be to God that he has rescued me from being vulnerable.

Lord help us to help the simple—the vulnerable—by our example.

Amen.