Mensa Otabil - Depart From Evil (10/28/2025)
This week we’ll be looking at wisdom from the Book of Proverbs. We focused on Proverbs Chapter 14. We’ve read various verses and learned our lessons from them. So, we do our final reading for the week from Proverbs Chapter 14, and this is verse number 16. A wise man fears and departs from evil, but a fool rages and is self-confident. I don’t know about you, but the writings in the Book of Proverbs sometimes put a smile on your face because you can almost picture what the verse is saying. The passage states that one important way to mark the difference between the wise and the fool is their attitude toward evil. When something is wrong, how do they approach it? Our attitude toward sin will determine whether we are wise or foolish.
The passage focuses on two things. First, it says the wise depart from evil. People who are wise generally fear God. When we say they fear God, it means they respect Him; they value His word and His principles. They know that God’s word is sure, so they have deep respect and reverence for God and His word. As a result, they are very careful about the things that God warns us about. So if God says not to do something, the wise person, because they respect God, will not go and do it. They understand the consequences of evil, and the passage states they run from evil. Because sometimes, the best way to deal with sin is to run away from it. People may laugh at you, but you have to run away from it. The reason is that sometimes sin is presented as fun and pleasurable. When you run away from it, people will say you are anti-social, that you are not friendly, that you are not modern, or whatever description they assign to you. They depict you as someone who’s missing out on the good things in life.
However, when sin is sin, regardless of how good it sounds or how nice it looks, we have to run from it because running from it is our safety, our protection, and our deliverance — in this life and in eternity. We must have the wisdom to run from sin when it stands or presents itself. True wisdom will turn away from the door of sin and move away. The passage then describes the confidence of someone who is making a mistake very confidently. They rage on, acting as if they are masters of it while doing the wrong thing. Fools recklessly run into sin. The reason is that people tend to trust in themselves. They trust their own ability to resolve every problem, believing that come what may, they can handle it. They believe they are on top-they think they are smart, have the education, and possess the money-so they rush into sin.
In our world, there are many people who do that. Young people rush into sin because they are so youthful; they don’t think about consequences or consider that life is fragile. Older people do it as well because they have status, power, and might; they think they can continue raging into sin. Now, if you are one of those people who rush into evil and ignore consequences, unfortunately, the Bible describes you as a fool because the fool recklessly rushes into sin very self-confidently, without thinking of the repercussions. But the wise person runs away from sin.
Let’s pray. Heavenly Father, help me to depart from evil and stop rushing into acting rashly. In Jesus' name, amen and amen.