THE CHARACTER OF EVIL

Proverbs 2:13-15 Who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness; (14) Who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the frowardness of the wicked; (15) Whose ways are crooked, and they froward in their paths:

Let’s continue the divinely inspired monologue of proverbs 2. We are now given an education on the character of the evil man speaking froward things the wisdom of God is supposed to protect us from. We are given a very specific description of him. Does the text refer us to the end time antichrist; or is it about the wicked in every generation? The Word of God is multi-dimensional therefore it applies to both. John, the emissary told us though two thousand years ago, that even then, the world was already filled with antichrists.

Let us dissect the text so we know and understand the character of the person in this targeted description.

We are told it is someone who leaves the paths of uprightness; this infers that he was once in it. He leaves the paths of uprightness to walk the ways of darkness. If God is Light, and Jesus is the Light of the world, this person has drawn away from God, especially in the person of Messiah. It is a person who rejoices in doing evil. The word evil is associated with hurt, harm, wretchedness, mischief and wrong. The character of the person we are speaking about rejoices in such behaviors as those mentioned above. He also delights in the ‘frowardness’ of the wicked. Fro-ward is the opposite of toward. Toward is going towards God, fro-ward is moving away from God. This person loves those who draw away from God; those who walk in crooked backsliding paths.

God has children on this earth who reflect him, His character and His love. The devil also has an ilk of followers who reflect his backsliding evil loving character. By leading our lives within the confines of the wisdom of the Word of God, we are safe from those who through secular lures and human philosophy draw away from God. This makes the Word a place of refuge. The question is: do we allow the Wisdom of the Word of God to lead our lives, and even to have a say in how we choose our friends?