Walking with the Wise #180: Goodness Rules

“The evil bow down before the good,

the wicked at the gates of the righteous.”
—Proverbs 14:19

One of the most fascinating stories in Scripture is found in the book of Esther, although it doesn’t concern Esther as much as it does her cousin, Mordecai, and the evil Haman. If you remember the story, Haman was a leader in Susa, the Persian capital, who hated Haman because Haman refused to pay him honor. So insulted was he that he began plotting against Mordecai and his people, devising a plot whereby Mordecai along with all of the Jews in the kingdom would be killed. He hated Mordecai so much that he even went so far to construct a gallows for his execution in in front of his house! But, his plot was foiled, and rather than humiliate, harm, or hurt him, he was forced by the king to honor him. And eventually, he was executed on the very gallows he constructed.

The story of Haman and Mordecai is a practical life illustration of today’s proverb. No matter how evil the plot, no matter how great the hate, no matter how heinous the conspiracy, it will all be brought to nothing in the end. God’s Word says that the evil will bow down before the good, and the wicked will bow down at the gates of the righteous.

Do you find yourself in a situation where someone is plotting evil against you? Follow the words of the apostle Peter,

“Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing. For

‘Whoever desires to love life
and see good days,
let him keep his tongue from evil
and his lips from speaking deceit;
let him turn away from evil and do good;
let him seek peace and pursue it.
For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,
and his ears are open to their prayer.
But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”

—1 Peter 3:9-12.

May we bless those who hurt us and may we seek their good, so that God may be glorified. Let us entrust ourselves to the Lord our God, knowing that “He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday”—Psalm 37:6. Amen.