Proverbs 28:10 Commentary and Bible Study

A good conscience is willing to wait for its reward in God’s good time and to put up with setbacks without being blown off course, because it is confident that God sees and will not forget.We rightly read the justice of God in the things that happen to us in this world. Although justice is not complete in this life, God assures us that he will govern the world in a way that often demonstrates that he is observing all that men do. He is not indifferent to wickedness and sends enough token judgments for us to be sure what will be the outcome on the Day of Judgment for those who break his commandments. Justice is demonstrated when the punishment is connected with the crime, and it is often the case that the Lord’s judgments find ways of visibly making this connection. We do not hear his sentence yet, and we do not see his officers making arrests, but we see his justice at work in the paths which, with infinite skill, he chooses for us. Here is a particularly grievous case of someone who has deliberately corrupted another who was walking in his integrity. He has laid a trap for him perhaps by surrounding him with circumstances which are going to make it very hard to continue to do the right thing. This is one way in which the guilty can dampen the convicting power that the righteous have on their consciences. There is an instinctive understanding that if the righteous compromise themselves by committing sin, their authority has been stifled. They can no longer judge the wicked without themselves being accused of hypocrisy which is a devastating criticism. This is also done in spite against God and is urged on by the devil. Maybe through subtlety or maybe through violence they have succeeded. But by contrast those who hold on to righteousness whether it brings personal advantage or disadvantage, whether they are applauded for it or not, whether they prosper or are brought into poverty, whether their enemies are brought down or prosper, whether God rewards them for it immediately or not; these shall have good things in possession. They will inherit their good things in the world to come, when God’s justice is perfected and all works both good and evil have been brought into the light.