“When the wicked person dies, his expectation comes to nothing, and hope placed in wealth vanishes. The righteous one is rescued from trouble; in his place, the wicked one goes in. With his mouth the ungodly destroys his neighbor, but through knowledge the righteous are rescued. When the righteous thrive, a city rejoices; when the wicked die, there is joyful shouting. A city is built up by the blessing of the upright, but it is torn down by the mouth of the wicked.” (Proverbs‬ ‭11‬:‭7‬-‭11‬ ‭CSB‬‬ – Read the chapter)

I remember when Osama Bin Laden was the world’s number one villain. Or at least, it felt that way. He was the ultimate mastermind of the 9/11 terrorist attack against American civilians. Hunting him down and bringing him to justice was our nation’s number one international geopolitical goal for a very long time. And then we got him. There’s a whole movie about the effort and the mission it produced called Zero Dark Thirty that is worth seeing if you haven’t. As soon as the news was announced, there were spontaneous celebrations in the streets as people rejoiced that one of the century’s most evil men had been temporally punished for his crimes and could now face the cosmic justice he was due. Solomon said something like that would happen when people like him died. Let’s talk about that and more in this next group of proverbs.

When Adolf Hitler killed himself, the whole operation of concentration camps he envisioned to eliminate Jews essentially died with him. Yes, there has been plenty of antisemitism in the world since, but nothing like that. When Al Capone died, his criminal empire died with him. And no one mourned its loss. Solomon is exactly right that “when the wicked person dies, his expectation comes to nothing.” These folks had plans to accomplish so many different things. Yet when they were gone, while the legends of the most evil of them may persist, their legacies ended.

But we don’t have to think on nearly that grand of a scale. There are super wealthy people today who are pouring tons of money into finding ways to lengthen their lifespans as long as possible. There are some who theorize that with enough technology we can stave off death indefinitely. These folks are fools who are fooling themselves. They are placing a ton of hope in their wealth to save them, and they are not placing any hope in the God who actually can. They are doing everything they possibly can to draw out their time in this world, but even this world will one day come to an end. And then where will their expectations be? They are rightly counted among the wicked. Theirs may not be the kind of grandiose wicked of history’s most famous villains, but by being disconnected from the God who makes us righteous, wicked is what they are. And, “when the wicked person dies, his expectation comes to nothing, and hope placed in wealth vanishes.”

“The righteous one is rescued from trouble; in his place, the wicked one goes in.” Even as you are perhaps already coming up with apparent exceptions to this, let me remind us once again of the rule about proverbs: Proverbs are not promises. You can undoubtedly think of times when someone righteous ran smack into trouble and never managed to get out of it. You can think of examples of someone wicked who seemed to escape any and all accountability for their wickedness. That’s life in a world broken by sin. In the ultimate end of things, the righteous one will be rescued from trouble by Jesus’ sacrifice and her willingness to place her faith on Him. Meanwhile, the one who was wicked and seemed to escape earthly accountability will face heavenly accountability and find an eternity of trouble the righteous one avoided in Christ.

Yet even in this world, we do still often see this proverb playing out. Those who have committed themselves to doing good for others find that when trouble comes, those others who have been the beneficiaries of their good will step up to help them and rescue them from it. Those who are wicked, who have spent their lives turning their backs on what is good and refusing to love people in practical meaningful ways after the pattern of Christ, will find themselves with no one to help them. The trouble coming like a tidal wave will simply wash over them, leaving nothing behind when it clears.

“With his mouth the ungodly destroys his neighbor, but through knowledge the righteous are rescued.” What Solomon is not talking about here is talking badly about the person who lives next door to you (although that is certainly not entirely absent from his purview). As Jesus helpfully defined for us, our neighbor is literally anybody else in the world around us. Someone who is not reflecting the character of God is liable to destroy other people with her words. This can happen in so many different ways. Gossip is a big one. Spreading lies or rumors will do it. Verbal assaults are most assuredly within the scope of impact here. Even telling someone the truth but not wrapping the truth in love can do the trick.

James told us that the tongue is the hardest part of the body to control. We must constantly be on guard lest our tongues take control of us rather than the other way around. In a world where a generation raised on social media and the digital courage of feeling anonymous in posting whatever happens to come to mind, verbal and rhetorical habits that were once mostly limited to online interactions are starting to characterize our face to face encounters. Unless we submit our mouths to the Lord on a daily – sometimes hourly – basis, we will quickly find ourselves contributing to the destruction Solomon addresses here.

But when we know what is true about ourselves, about God, and about the world around us, we can be rescued. Rescued from what? The trouble intended by others, yes, but also being the ones causing the trouble. Sometimes the rescue we need most is from ourselves. When we are firmly and fully rooted in what is true, this rescue will always be close at hand.

“When the righteous thrive, a city rejoices; when the wicked die, there is joyful shouting.” One of the things the Kansas City Royals do that I have not ever seen any other MLB team copy, is to highlight people doing good work in the city at every home game. Just behind home plate is the Buck O’Neil Legacy Seat. Buck was a great ambassador for baseball, and especially the Negro Leagues he played in when he was young. He was a great and godly man who was unrelentingly kind and joyful in all of his interactions. In honor of his memory, the Royals honor a different individual every single home game who is making a positive difference in the city. We tend to get more of what we celebrate, and the Royals are striving to be a part of celebrating and creating more righteousness in the world. Meanwhile, no one grieves the death of a tyrant. Instead, they celebrate it. Live in such a way that you will be mourned when you die rather than having your death be a point of relief to the people around you.

“A city is built up by the blessing of the upright, but it is torn down by the mouth of the wicked.” The nation of France is crumbling. Right now it is beset by widespread and violent riots populated mostly by high school students. The riots may be action of these students, but they are not the brains behind the operation. That falls to the leader of a radical political party who has spent years calling for violence in response to perceived injustices. This party has aligned itself with radical Muslim elements in the nation and especially antisemitism. And now the nation is crumbling under the wickedness of his words which have been echoed by his followers around the country.

A couple of year ago a movie came out called “Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot.” The movie is about a pastor and his church who got passionate about adoption in their community. The pastor challenged the church to begin fostering and adopting kids out of the social services system in their East Texas community. The Spirit moved, the church responded, and they completely wiped out the foster care system in that area. They took in so many children that there were literally no more children left to be adopted. It wasn’t easy by any stretch. It took everything they had and then some. But they did it. They built up their community in a way that didn’t necessarily show on the outside or in ways the world might notice, but it changed the lives of a whole lot of kids. Theirs will be a generational impact.

When we pursue a path of righteousness, we build up our communities in ways that make life better for everybody in them. That seems a goal worth pursuing. Let’s commit to that. May you live today in pursuit of the wisdom of God.