By me kings reign, and rulers decree justice.
By me princes rule, and nobles; all who judge rightly.

Proverbs 8:15-16

We continue in Wisdom’s discourse today because it teaches us more about the intricate connection between wisdom and truth. In our key verses today, two proxies of truth are used ‘justice’ and ‘rightly’. Throughout these 31 Days the various forms of these two words, along with ‘truth’ variants, will be used for our words of study. 

Justice and rightly and their variations are used many times in Proverbs and interchangeably. We will find just, justly, justify, right, righteous, rightness (I love this one) and righteousness in our discussions together. All of these go hand in hand with The Truth and they combine in the power of Him Who is Wisdom! We have to understand this and make Wisdom’s Truth a fundamental principle of our lives. It is not an understatement to say that it is a life or death standard! 

One of our greatest challenges in the 21^st Century is knowing what is true, just, right and what is false, lies and, in modern terminology…fake. And not only that, but how do we discern…use wisdom…to even know the difference?! It is not easy or a one and done. But, we are not alone in our struggles. The Bible is full of the hardships experienced by the Hebrews often caused by the unjustness and unrighteousness of their rulers; namely their kings. Proverbs 29:1-16 is a great overview of the vast difference between those who rule in The Truth and those who do not. We will hit this chapter often in the coming weeks and months. It is summarized in…

When the righteous increase the people rejoice,
but when a wicked man rules, the peoples groan

Proverbs 29:2

And just to be clear…please hear this truth…there are wicked men and women in both of our political parties and in all of politics and rulers all around the world! That is one of the reasons it is so very hard to figure out what is really The Truth! It seems like the world’s leaders: the rich and the powerful have gone mad and believe their own lies that they pummel at all of us 24/7: there is no end of it and no relief from it. It is relentless and eventually lies are believed to be true by a majority of humans and those few who know the truth and try to proclaim it or demonized and canceled.

In frustration, we often draw our own lines in the sand and scream at those on the other side before we ever check with The Truth to gain His Wisdom about our own understanding or lack thereof. Truth may never enter into the debate. Justice and rightness are the farthest thing from our minds. And the Gospel is nowhere to be found. We draw our lines (not necessarily God’s lines) and make up our ‘own truth’ to try and validate those lines. 

Our Bibles are closed and our prayers are nonexistent and we walk through life resembling sheep without a shepherd. 

Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd. 

Matthew 9:36

Our world leaders and the rich and the powerful have to decide for themselves if they will speak truth or lies. They have to choose to rule justly rather than choose evil intents. We can’t really control those decisions; not even in a democracy. What we need to do is follow justice and truth and then judge rightly in truth and do that within our own circle of influence, small though it be. And we can only do that as we follow our True Shepherd; Jesus!