Proverbs 1, 10-19, Day 6, Jan 6 | Anita Mathias: Dreaming Beneath the Spires

¹⁰ My son, if sinful men entice you,
   do not give in to them.
¹¹ If they say, “Come along with us;
   let’s lie in wait for innocent blood,
   let’s ambush some harmless soul;
¹² let’s swallow them alive, like the grave,
   and whole, like those who go down to the pit;
¹³ we will get all sorts of valuable things
   and fill our houses with plunder;
¹⁴ cast lots with us;
   we will all share the loot”—
¹⁵ my son, do not go along with them,
   do not set foot on their paths;
¹⁶ for their feet rush into evil,
   they are swift to shed blood.
¹⁷ How useless to spread a net
   where every bird can see it!
¹⁸ These men lie in wait for their own blood;
   they ambush only themselves!
¹⁹ Such are the paths of all who go after ill-gotten gain;
   it takes away the life of those who get it.

Do not harm an innocent person for any gain to yourself, whether in status, position, or wealth.

Though you may get away with it in the short run, in the long run, you only ambush yourself. What you have gained unrighteously will harm you.

How will this work out? Because, contrary to appearances sometimes, this world is in the hands of a just Judge, who loves justice, and who, as Paul says in Galatians, will ensure that men reap what they sow.