Proverbs 11:31, A Warning to All!

June 1, Proverbs 11:31

1 Peter 4:12-19 “Can two walk together except they be agreed?” (Amos 3:3).

A Warning to All!

Does shall be recompensed mean that the righteous receive rewards, as in 13:13, where the same word is used, and the wicked punished (Jer. 18:20)? If so, why does it say much more the wicked? Recompensed should be applied in both places. If the righteous are liable for their sins, how much more the wicked?

1. Unbiased Recompense: When the righteous suffer, and the wicked appear to prosper, how can it be said that it is well with the righteous and evil for the wicked? Here the righteous are warned that everyone, saint and sinner, is accountable. The child of God is under the discipline, but not the wrath, of his Heavenly Father. The lure of the world, the flesh, and the devil is so strong, even in the believer, that the Rod is necessary. We often forget that our inheritance is in Heaven, not on earth. We too easily conform to the world, and are charmed into compromise. True believers can and do backslide. God’s discipline is to bring them back. “It is important to notice that in 1 Peter 4:12-19 even the suffering of the righteous, under persecution, is partly viewed (as in this proverb) as a judgment, whatever other aspects it wears” (Kidner). But who knows the power of God’s anger (Ps. 90:11) in dealing with the wicked when the day of grace is passed?

2. Unavoidable Recompense: The discipline of the redeemed is limited to this earth. They are not, as sinners deserve, cast off. Jesus came to deliver them from the wrath to come (Lk. 3:7). Recall how God dealt with Moses, with David, or stiff-necked rebellious Israel (Je. 25:29). This is God’s law of retribution at work. Read again the tragic story of the disobedient prophet, though seduced by a lying prophet, yet the recompense was unavoidable (1 Kg. 13:21-24). The saints’ sins are punished here that they may not be condemned with the world (1 Cor. 11:32; Heb. 12:5-8).What a warning to all! If the righteous often suffer for their sins, how can the wicked expect to escape untouched!

3. Unchangeable Recompense: The Behold here alerts us to something requiring our serious attention. It is how all the proverbs are opened which express the happiness of the righteous and misery of the wicked. It also seeks to answer any questions that might be raised to this rule. The usual emphasis in Proverbs concerns the here and now. The righteous are generally rewarded in this life, and sinners generally suffer for their sin here as well. When we come to the New Testament, however, what is generally true in Proverbs will be irrevocably true in the Life to Come (Mk. 10:30; Lk. 18:29-30). Much obvious wickedness seems to go unpunished, yet, the fact is, that the wicked also suffer in this life, outward appearances to the contrary notwithstanding. If the Heavenly Father’s discipline is so necessary for the saints, how much more His just judgment on wilful sinners as well, and unless they repent, for all Eternity? Peter’s inspired commentary on this verse proves this beyond doubt. If judgment begins at the house of God, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?

Thought: “There is comfort to be found even in God’s condemnations” (Fenelon).

Prayer: Lord, that the wicked may tremble and the child of God be humbled.