Today’s Blog: Removing the Wicked AND Establishing Righteousness

TODAY’S PROVERB: Remove the wicked from before the king, and his throne will be established in righteousness. Proverbs 25:5, TLV

Eventually, GOD will publicly reveal the wickedness in a “kingdom.” Kingdoms can represent organizations, congregations, families, schools, neighborhoods. Wickedness can be corruptness, embezzling, abuse — well, you get the idea.

Sometimes it feels like GOD takes too long for those revelations, especially for the victims. But I wonder if it is a test to see if those “kings” — those leaders — will rise up and do the right thing. To see if people and systems are in place to prevent a wicked person from abusing their power and having free reign in a righteous setting. And what about the victims?

Living with freewill is not easy. Dealing with the one in sin who is repentant is complex. However, this passage seems very clear: the wicked need to be removed.

When whatever insidious corruption infiltrates a “kingdom,” the number of victims will mount. If a leader neglects or closes their eyes to that wickedness, it will destabilize the whole organization. Trust is violated. The bigger the kingdom, the more difficult it is to regain that trust.

To me, it seems clear: to establish a congregation, ministry, organization, or government in righteousness, we have to remove wickedness. That means removing the perpetrators of that wickedness. It also means the king needs to help the victims — and that doesn’t mean throw money at them and forget about them.

Then what?

Once the person(s) has been removed, once the victims have been identified, then the real work begins. And it must begin with the victims.

Establish/Secure Righteousness

Having systems in place to counsel and support them is so important. These precious souls need to feel safe. Ultimately, they must forgive their abusers — for their own wellbeing as children of the Most High GOD — but few can do that on their own.

Removing the Wicked

If the perpetrator is truly repentant, then systems also need to be in place to walk them through what and why they did what they did. There must be full disclosure and a process to understand the full ramifications of the pain they caused to others. And based on this passage, I believe they need to be removed from their position of authority.

As a victim of sexual abuse as a child and of date-rape as a teenager, I know the long journey of recovery. For most of us, that recovery was done in secret and silence — and unnecessary shame. Nevertheless, it bares repeating: the integral part of that healing process is forgiveness.

Even in that forgiveness, discernment is necessary. In my case, most of the abusers I would never allow near my child.

These are the challenges and difficulties in our Wisdom Journey. We love a redemption story, where a sinner repents and becomes a new person. But, we can’t forget about the victims. They need their redemption story, too.

May we use wisdom for these difficult and painful situations, my friends.

Proverbs 25:5 Tree of Life Version – TLV, #tlvbible, #tlvproverbs

HAVE YOU HAD TO REMOVE THE WICKEDNESS FROM YOUR KINGDOM? IF THIS BLOG WAS A BLESSING, PLEASE SHARE. THANKS SO MUCH!