Proverbs 3:32

Good guys finish first! Measure their end, not their beginning, for there are no exceptions to the rule. God will fight against every wicked person, because He abhors each one. But He will personally bless the righteous with His presence and goodness, because He loves each of them. Do not be misled by the world, which exalts the wicked and despises the righteous. It is their last arrogant gasp at self-delusion before their final destruction.

Because the world glamorizes wicked men in its rebellion against God and truth, men often envy oppressors (Pr 3:31; 23:17; 24:1,19; Ps 37:1,7). For a time it may seem that deceitful and violent men get ahead without consequences. But the inspired warning – “Envy thou not the oppressor, and choose none of his ways,” – is based on the rule here (Pr 3:31). Apparent success is a temporary illusion. Hell will be paid. God guarantees it.

What is a froward man? This older word means a man who goes counter to what is right; he is unreasonable, perverse, difficult to deal with, hard to please, refractory, and ungovernable. He is obnoxious and wicked. He is the oppressor from the previous proverb, who uses any means he can to harm others and take advantage of them. The warning is clear – do not choose his ways or choose to be with him. He is going down.

You have seen this man before. Have you envied him? He is brash and confident. He breaks the rules and seems to never get caught. In fact, he is often honored and rewarded, as if his cheating were the profitable thing to do. He has no regard for others, and he uses them for whatever he can get from them. He may become powerful and successful, and you wonder if there is any reward for living a holy and righteous life (Ps 73:1-14).

But God abominates such wicked men. He hates them with perfect hatred, and He will judge them in this world and the next. If you think God loves such men but hates their sin, then hear the word of the Lord, “The foolish shall not stand in thy sight: thou hatest all workers of iniquity” (Ps 5:5). “The LORD trieth the righteous: but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth” (Ps 11:5). Pharaoh greatly oppressed the Hebrews, so God suffocated him in the Red Sea for his frowardness (Ex 14:17; Rom 9:15-18).

Who are the righteous? They are good men who live by God’s definition of what is right. They fear and love God, and they adjust their lives to match what is written in the Bible. They hate sin, and they love holiness. They are strangers and pilgrims in this world, for they know their real citizenship and everlasting inheritance is in another world – heaven. God rewards them in this life and the next, and Solomon described them over fifty times.

What is God’s secret, which He gives to the righteous? It is His personal presence and favors, which He grants to good men in ways the world cannot recognize. As men share intimate plans and rewards with their best friends, so the Lord shares His glory and blessings with holy men. He tells them by His Spirit about His love for them and of the unspeakable rewards He has waiting for them in heaven (Ps 25:14; I Cor 2:9; Gal 4:6-7).