Mensa Otabil - Wickedness and Uprightness (10/19/2025)
This week, we’ll be looking at the Book of Proverbs, and we have been focused on Proverbs Chapter 14 to lend valuable lessons to apply to our lives. So we’re in Proverbs Chapter 14, verse number 11. The house of the wicked will be overthrown, but the tent of the upright will flourish. Now, if you’ve noticed, a lot of the sayings in the Book of Proverbs are based on comparing and contrasting. Usually, it takes two opposites and shows us their attitudes and then the outcome of their lives. In this particular instance, we’re looking at the wicked and the upright. The proverb says that both the wicked and the upright are building. The wicked builds a house, and the upright builds a tent.
I want you to look at the difference between a house and a tent. A house is more stable than a tent. A house will withstand a storm easier than a tent. A house is more permanent, and a tent is more temporary. A house is more valuable and expensive than a tent. So, consider the apparent differences between a house and a tent, and you may be tempted to think that the wicked is doing better than the upright because the wicked is the one who is building the house, and the upright is building a tent. On the face of it, when you look at it, it would appear as if the wicked has a better system than the upright because he has a house, and the upright has a tent. But the proverb tells us that the house of the wicked is overthrown.
The wicked is building something, and everybody is amazed by it. It looks beautiful, stable, strong, and expensive. It looks far better than what the upright man is building. Then a storm comes, and whom! It’s gone. The house of the wicked is gone. Why? Because what the wicked builds that looks fanciful and great and durable is built on lies, cheating, deception, and godlessness. It looks to have succeeded until a storm moves it away.
So, don’t be too impressed by the house of the wicked. It may seem very successful, but it will be overthrown. That’s what the proverb is telling us. Then it says the tent of the righteous flourishes. What the righteous is building may not seem great; it doesn’t seem fanciful, nor does it seem stable, but it withstands the storm, flourishes, and gets better. Everything works out well for it. So, why does the tent of the righteous flourish? Because God is in it. It’s not so much about what you are building; it’s about what God is building with you and through you.
If the Lord is building your tent, people may not see it as strong and beautiful, but there is strength in it because the Lord’s hand is upon it. It’s better to build something with God’s hand and God’s favor upon it than something that is so far away from God and based solely on our effort. In the end, whatever God blesses is blessed. If God blesses your tent, it is blessed. If what you have doesn’t seem like much but God blesses it, then it is blessed. Many times, we try to build everything ourselves, but it’s always important to build God’s way and have God’s blessing upon it. A little with God is much more than a thousand without God. Make sure God is in your tent, and then it will flourish, and it will do well.
Let’s pray. Say with me: Heavenly Father, what You bless is blessed. Help me to build things that attract Your blessing. In Jesus' name, amen and amen.