Why we need a guide, and how to get a free one

“For they [the wicked] cannot sleep unless they have done wrong; they are robbed of sleep unless they have made someone stumble.”
-Proverbs 4:16

I sat down to write about this verse, and I had to take a little time just to meditate on it. Solomon is describing an evil that I never want to know. He is talking about someone who wishes harm on other people, someone who loses sleep when his enemy is safe. This is the sort of wickedness we sometimes see in dictators or unrepentant murderers, but I don’t like thinking of this possibility for me.

And that’s what Solomon wants us to consider. He has just finished telling his son not to start down the paths of the wicked, and this verse tells us why – because the wicked end up like this. This warning is meant for just normal people.

And then, as I considered these words, I began to remember all the times I did, in fact, act like this. Times when I could not go to sleep after a fight with my wife because I wanted so badly to say something cruel to her. Times when I wished a certain person at work would get fired because he was annoying. Times when I would plot and scheme to achieve my own ends, even if it hurt someone else (or sometimes BECAUSE it would hurt someone else).

Like it or not, we are capable of the worst evils known to man. Most of us keep it in our heads most of the time. Some of it spills out into our words. For a few, these terrible evils come out in actions. But it’s there for all of us. Our hearts are filled with murders, dark plots, and violence that would shock even the most hardened of criminals. Think what you will about how good of a person you are. The truth is, if the desires of our hearts came about, we would all be Hitlers.

When Jesus came to earth, He was so truthful in His assessments of others that He was murdered. The people gathered together and strong-armed the Roman representative in Jerusalem, a representative who did not want Jesus crucified, but bowed to the political pressure. They had Him killed. And I wonder if I would have been any different. If Jesus had pointed to me and revealed the darkness inside of me, would I have repented or called out for Him to be placed upon the Cross?

But Jesus didn’t point out those sins to be a jerk or something. He was telling them something we all need to hear. You think you’re okay, but you’re not. You think you’re a good person, but you’re not. You’re a sinner, and if you don’t repent, you’re lost. We need that, because we’re not going to admit it on our own. We need Him to point it out, and we need Him to tell us how to make it better.

In that massive miscarriage of justice, Jesus did something wonderful. He died for us. There isn’t any way to “make it up” to God for all the wrong we have done, said, and thought. There isn’t a way to make it better. But Jesus died in our place, so He could pay the price we owed in sin. If we repent and believe, we will find Grace.

In showing us our sin He has proven a good guide. But He goes beyond that, for He paid our way to eternal life by atoning for our sins, even when we don’t deserve it. And He commands us follow Him. How do we do that? By His Grace, and by Grace alone. In mercy, He paid for our sins, something we could never pay alone, but that doesn’t mean we can now earn God’s love when we couldn’t before. No, we walk by Grace, for His righteousness is imputed to us. It is only by that Grace that we can stand.