Proverbs 29:1-6 (ESV)

[1] He who is often reproved, yet stiffens his neck,

will suddenly be broken beyond healing.

[2] When the righteous increase, the people rejoice,

but when the wicked rule, the people groan.

[3] He who loves wisdom makes his father glad,

but a companion of prostitutes squanders his wealth.

[4] By justice a king builds up the land,

but he who exacts gifts tears it down.

[5] A man who flatters his neighbor

spreads a net for his feet.

[6] An evil man is ensnared in his transgression,

but a righteous man sings and rejoices.

God’s standards were never meant to be burdensome. God did not establish random rules just to keep people under his thumb. The directives of God’s word are intended to serve and protect people, not enslave them. Those who flaunt God’s standards will often speak of them as burdensome or restricting. But as you reads through this 29^th chapter of Proverbs you cannot help but see that rejecting God’s standards is destructive. God’s standards and principles are there to protect people not restrict them.

“When the righteous increase, the people rejoice, but when the wicked rule, the people groan” (Prov 29:2). Wisdom brings joy. Righteousness brings celebration. Justice builds up. Flattery ensnares. Injustice destroys. Wickedness oppresses. Foolishness dissipates what wealth one has. God’s ways are not oppressive. God’s ways are there to protect the individual, the family, and society. People can dance in the streets and celebrate throwing off the constraint of God’s “restrictive” ways, but they are only celebrating their own demise.

Imagine choosing to eat poison when perfectly good food is available just because the poison looks and tastes good. Even if poison looks and tastes good, it is deadly. Imagine choosing a lifestyle contrary to the scriptures because it appeals to one’s senses and passions, and then either rejecting the scriptures or redefining them to make one’s actions acceptable. It is poison to the soul and poison to society, but we choose it because we think it makes us happy. Hebrews 11:25 tells us that Moses chose “to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.” That’s what drugs provide, an immediate relief or pleasure that ends up being self-destructive. That’s what violence results in, a release of one’s immediate emotion only to destroy another’s life and create an environment where there is increasing violence and less and less safety. That’s what any rejection of God’s principles and standards does. One may feel an immediate freedom by rejecting God’s principles and truths, but it results in a world that is increasingly unsafe and unfulfilling. God’s ways were never meant to be burdensome. They were intended to serve and protect people, not enslave them. Which path will you choose today? Will you follow your passions, or will you live in line with God’s ways and God’s intended purpose? In the end God’s ways create a better world.