Right Makes Root

Most of us are familiar with the phrase “might makes right”.  By the way, this phrase is definitely not true and you will not find it in the book of Proverbs.  Being mighty or powerful doesn’t make you right; it just gives you the ability to force your way on someone.  That phrase popped into my head as I read Proverbs 12:1-3

Whoever loves instruction loves knowledge,
But he who hates correction is stupid.  A good man obtains favor from the Lord,
But a man of wicked intentions He will condemn.  A man is not established by wickedness,
But the root of the righteous cannot be moved.

My focus this morning is on verse 3.  My point really has nothing to do with the “might makes right” phrase except that it led me to think about the title.  Any, the proverb that we read in verse 3 is so true.  When we follow God’s wisdom, we are rooted and cannot be moved.  Even when things are not going the way we want them to go…and when things are falling down all around us, we can be rooted in God’s wisdom.  If you know that what you are doing or saying is “right” then you have confidence to continue the course, confidence to keep doing what you are doing.  You are rooted.

This strength or confidence comes from knowing that what God says is also right.  And God is a perfect combination of “might” and “right”.  When we have “might” and “right” on our side, we also get “root”.  (I think I’ll stop now before this gets even sillier!)

In wisdom,
Eric

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