Proverbs 28:5

What a difference between men! Some cannot figure out simple issues. Others fully grasp everything? Which are you? Unable to understand anything? Or understanding all things?

Natural man is evil and blind. He does not know right or wrong. He is so corrupt by sin and Satan, he cannot see or think straight. He perverts everything he thinks about. By your first birth, you are a natural man, walking in darkness like everyone else (Ep 2:1-3).

Instead of his Creator, man has worshipped stumps, snakes, and bugs (Is 44:9-20; Rom 1:23). Since such things are too lofty for this generation and sound too much like gods to its teachers, man worships himself instead, which is the ultimate folly (Ps 14:1-3).

Evil men are puppets. The god of this world jerks them at his will, and they go through life without right judgment – knowing what is just and true (II Cor 4:4; Ep 2:2; 4:17-19). The devil blinds them to ignorance of this world and the next. They know nothing at all.

If a person contradicts the Bible, he has no light (Is 8:20; I Tim 6:3-5). Now that is God’s opinion, but wise men heartily endorse it (Ps 119:128). Evil men are always learning – especially in this information age – but they never find truth for real issues (II Tim 3:7).

Evil men are evil, because they do not fear God. All men that do not fear God are evil. Without a Creator or moral absolutes, they cannot know right or wrong. Evil men are also evil, because they do not make choices by wisdom. They foolishly make choices by lusts, feelings, pragmatism, popular opinion, tradition, or other deceitful criteria.

Most men think Adolph Hitler, Charles Manson, Rasputin, and only extreme criminals fulfill the first clause of the proverb about lacking judgment. But those are only three in a wicked world of natural men. On what moral basis was John Lennon, Sigmund Freud, or Mahatma Gandi different? The vast majority of all men do not understand true judgment.

The evil men in the proverb have no fear of God (Ps 36:1-2; Rom 3:18). They are fools (Ps 14:1; 53:1). They have not even engaged the beginning of knowledge and wisdom. They make decisions according to their ignorance, lusts, and pride. They love themselves more than anyone else, and life is just a contest to see who can get the most. They were willing pawns of the devil for child sacrifice in the old days and are so for abortion today.

Judgment is the ability to know what is just and right. By rejecting God and His will in the Bible, evil men are left to the mercy of the devil and profane imaginations (Ec 7:29). Animals did not invent bestiality. It was another bright idea from God-rejecting man. And they show greater perversity today by legally only considering it cruelty to animals!

Understanding means to comprehend and grasp the nature or importance of some thing. Evil men cannot comprehend what is just and right – they cannot understand judgment. They cannot truly see what is right or wrong in moral and other matters, because their hearts are blinded. Their hatred of God and His commandments distorts their judgment.

Those who seek the LORD fear Him, keep His commandments, read His Word, and pray for wisdom. God’s Spirit inside them assists their new man by regeneration to know all things (Job 32:8; I Jn 2:20). They understand all things, both of this world and of the world to come. Those who seek the Lord even have the mind of the Lord (I Cor 2:15-16).

The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom and understanding (Pr 1:7; 9:10; Ps 111:10). Knowing God is the foundation for all right thinking. Without the worldview of a holy Creator, the depraved human heart has no boundaries to restrain its selfish imaginations, twisted hallucinations suggested by the devil, the world’s wicked inventions hurled at them every day, or some combination of these three sources of evil together.

Solving issues without fear of God is crazy. What will limit your imagination? What constraints will direct you? What will be the basis for your idea of fairness? What is right or wrong? Who wins, if someone else disagrees? Can it be different this time than last time? The potential disaster of thinking without boundaries by an all-wise God is great.

What is your worldview? Are you the creature of a holy Creator? Or are you the result of billions of years of evolution from nothing? Are your ancestors baboons? Is your agenda to improve the human race by social programs dreamed up in university classrooms and pubs? Is your purpose to fulfill your destiny? Is your destiny something more than death?

Are life’s choices determined by what will gratify your lusts or pride the most? Or should choices be made to obey and please an infinitely wise God? After pleasing God, do you have any obligation to consider the effect of decisions on others? If you should, where did you learn that, and on what certain basis is there any incentive to consider others.

Man is insane apart from the fear of God. Without the constraint of divine wisdom, he will not think rightly. He destroyed his sound reasoning in Eden, when he was discontent with being very good in a very good world. He wanted to be like God, so he rebelled against God. He ruined everything. He died that day in spiritual understanding (Ge 2:17).

In recent years, man has assumed capital and corporal punishment do not work, babies should be killed in the womb, spotted owls should be preserved at any cost, racial crimes occur in only one direction, women are equal or superior to men, human ancestors are monkeys, homosexuals are normal and make great parents, and so forth and so on.

They reason that deficit spending leads to prosperity, sex education in elementary schools will reduce teenage pregnancies, labor unions can supply top wages for bottom workers with no consequences, guns should be outlawed while outlaws are housed and entertained at recreation clubs, and violent movies and video games have no role in violent crimes.

They have a lie in their right hand and cannot see it (Is 44:18-20). Men today are worse than their stump-worshipping fathers, for at least those pagans assumed some sort of a divine existence. Modern evil men do not have a place for any god in their lives. They are humanistic idolaters. So God blinds them further (Rom 1:18-32; II Thess 2:9-12).

Humanism is worship of man. Existentialism is worship of existence. Worldly thinkers have reached great heights in wisdom. Let us worship ourselves! They say, I am valuable because I am Homo sapiens, and I exist. You should love me for this, because I love me for it. You should love me unconditionally, because character or conduct is meaningless.

They say, “Self-love is the greatest love of all.” God forbid! Self-love is a euphemism for narcissism, selfishness, and pride. How much understanding does a person have who calls those three sins the greatest love? They promote self-esteem while knowing prison inmates have high degrees of it. Solomon wrote, “Evil men understand not judgment.”

Do you seek the LORD? Do you tremble before His Word and its words? Do you beg Him for light and understanding? Do you consider Him and His will for every decision? Is He your everlasting Portion? Is Heaven your favorite destination? Is righteousness as He has defined it your moral code of conduct? Is holiness the beauty of the universe?

Then you will find the understanding of all things. You will know where man came from, his whole duty in life, the basis for productive relationships, peace that passes understanding, the forgiveness of sins by Jesus Christ, the coming Day of Judgment, and the hope of eternal glory. All this and everything else will be easy for you to understand.

Consider. A person who seeks the Lord will be a great spouse, for they know what is maritally just and right from God and the Bible. A person who seeks the Lord makes a great employee and/or a great employer for the same reasons. You would not want to be around any other kind of person, if you had a choice, but the world is mostly evil men.

Who wants to be tried by a jury of peers, unless those peers fear God? It is a travesty of justice and judgment to reduce court decisions to the unanimous agreement of those who barely did, or did not, graduate from high school, have nothing better to do but collect court change for appearing, are chosen because they have no moral convictions, and whom their Creator has said cannot understand real justice and judgment. Should trial by jury be ballyhooed as one of the great inventions of a free society? Guess again!

If you seek God with your whole heart, you will find Him (Jer 29:13). When you find Him, He will give Wisdom in your soul to understand all things. You will know the things of this life, and you will know the unspeakable things yet to come. You will understand things natural and things spiritual. You will grasp life, death, and eternal life. You will understand and find joy, peace, and hope that others cannot know or have.

Seek God now. There is no better time than now. Go to Him in faith and prayer to humble yourself and seek Him as the proverb describes. His name is the LORD Jehovah. Go to Jesus Christ His Son now and beg for mercy on your foolish soul. Then give Him all the glory for a right understanding of all things as you search His pure word.