“The hope of the righteous is joy, but the expectation of the wicked will perish. The way of the Lord is a stronghold for the honorable, but destruction awaits evildoers. The righteous will never be shaken, but the wicked will not remain on the earth. The mouth of the righteous produces wisdom, but a perverse tongue will be cut out. The lips of the righteous know what is appropriate, but the mouth of the wicked, only what is perverse.” (Proverbs‬ ‭10‬:‭28‬-‭32‬ ‭CSB‬‬ – Read the chapter)

Jesus once described the person who heard His teaching and put it into practice to be like a wise person who built a house securely on a good foundation. When the storms of life arose and brought all their chaos to that person’s life, they were not moved because they had a secure foundation. As well versed in the Scriptures as Jesus was, I suspect He had the proverb in the middle of this last set from chapter 10 in mind. Let’s see what else Solomon has to say here about wise living.

When you do good things, you naturally look forward to good things. When you do something wrong, though, the dread of what is coming your way hangs over your head like a low and constant cloud. That’s what Solomon is pointing to in this first proverb. “The hope of the righteous is joy, but the expectation of the wicked will perish.”

When you live in pursuit of right relationships with God and the people around you, the substance of your hope is joy. It is joy because even if things are hard right now, you know what is coming your way in the future. The promise of God is that you will be a part of His kingdom where all wrongs are made right, where the very righteousness you pursue will be the law of the land, and where all those who have walked a similar path will receive the just reward of their labors. The righteous look forward to a future that is good in every way and it brings them joy.

Those who have ignored the path of righteousness, however, and have instead chosen to run away from God’s character and by that to work against His plans and the advance of His kingdom do not sure a similar hope. In fact, Solomon changes the word here to one that is a synonym, but not quite as strong of a description of what we look forward to in the future as the first word. The wicked don’t have hope because there is nothing positive when it comes to their expectations for the future. There is only dread. Thus their expectations, their hope, will perish.

“The way of the Lord is a stronghold for the honorable, but destruction awaits evildoers.” When you commit yourself to walking the path of Christ, loving others and striving for right relationships both horizontally and vertically, your lifestyle will serve as a kind of hedge of protection for you against a host of bad things that might otherwise cross your path. This does not mean that following Jesus will somehow keep anything bad from happening to you. Strongholds mattered in the ancient world, but sometimes they fell. Instead, the expectation we should form here is that pursuing the life of Christ will do just what I said. It will protect us from many of the bad things that might otherwise happen.

Ignoring the teachings of Christ is going to result in broken relationships. Pursuing His path will protect you from much of that so far as it depends on you. Ignoring the call of righteousness will likely result in financial hardships because of unwise decisions that are motivated by selfishness or greed rather than foresight and generosity. The way of the Lord will keep you from experiencing those. All of this potential destruction that lies down the way of evildoers can be largely avoided by sticking with righteousness and living God’s way. Not so if you choose otherwise. So, choose carefully.

“The righteous will never be shaken, but the wicked will not remain on the earth.” Here we find basically the same affirmation as in the last proverb. I feel compelled to once again remind us that proverbs are not promises. They describe how the world works all things being equal in the face of a world in which things aren’t always equal. Yet they often are by God’s grace, and so we can take them as good rules of thumb for living the best life we possibly can. And in an ultimate sense, what Solomon declares here is right on the money.

Those who are righteous, the psalmist declared, are like a tree planted by the water. Its roots run deep and it is able to thrive even in dry seasons because it is well watered and fed. When the storms of life come, that tree will stand firm. So also your life when it is secured in Christ. But without that kind of a foundation, when the storms comes, you will be blown away into all kinds of trouble. And this trouble won’t just affect you. It will affect everyone around you. So make good and wise decisions so that you can remain and bless those around you.

“The mouth of the righteous produces wisdom, but a perverse tongue will be cut out. The lips of the righteous know what is appropriate, but the mouth of the wicked, only what is perverse.” These last two proverbs of the chapter go together as a pair. The second explains the first. The mouth or the lips (same poetic thing) of the righteous produces wisdom which is always appropriate in whatever situation it is delivered. But those who are wicked have perverse mouths that only turn out what is perverse. Indeed, a thing can only be what it is. The mouth can only speak what is already in the heart, Jesus said. To put all of this another way, you will always be able to tell who a person is by what comes out of their mouth. They may be able to put on a show for a little while, but listen long enough, listen when the people they want to impress aren’t around, and you’ll know quickly who they really are.

This brings us around to a question worth considering: Do the words coming out of your mouth reveal that you are someone who is living in the stronghold of the Lord and whose hopes are all consumed with joy? Or do they reveal you to be possessed of a perverse heart with no real expectations for the future save the destruction coming your way on the day of judgment? You can put on an act for a time, but you can’t hide who you are forever. Instead, by God’s grace and the transformational power of the Holy Spirit, you can change who you are. If you are on a path that is bringing nothing but dread to your life, receive Jesus’ offer of life and help and switch paths. You’ll be glad that you did.