Day 32, Year 1 The Plight of the Twisted

“Thorns and snares are in the way of the perverse; He who guards his soul will be far from them.” (Proverbs 22:5 NKJV)

The word “perverse” in today’s verse is the Hebrew word ‘iqqesh, the same word “devious” as in yesterday’s verse (2 Samuel 22:27), indicating “crooked, twisted,” and mainly used to describe “twisted people.” In Chinese, “perverse” refers to someone abnormal, eccentric, obstinate, or refusing to follow the right path. Following yesterday’s discussion, king Saul is a typical example of a perverse person. He twisted God’s words and thus brought about his tragedy with his sons and followers. Just as a person who loves cleanliness tends to keep their things clean and tidy; conversely, a crooked person tends to distort most of what they handle. In reality, very few tasks require constant distortion of things. Thus, these crooked people need to change themselves significantly to develop normal thoughts and intentions so as to be normal in daily living and believe in God with pure hearts.

How do people know whether they are perverse? According to today’s verse, if there are many “thorns and snares” in a person’s life—meaning frequent injuries, entanglements, and obstructions—it might indicate a problem of perversity. In other words, the life of a perverse person is often full of hindrances and even plagued by calamities, which could be observed from the plights in their daily life. Of course, it might not be the believer’s own perversity but that of someone perverse around us, who shifts the problem onto us. In such cases, we need to break free from the entanglements and toxic beliefs of all crooked people as much as we can.

Second, we could examine ourselves to see if we are like king Saul when we know God’s Word, trimming down His commands to suit our interest, selectively obeying some but not others. Saul walked on the twisted path of personal gains, and many people find themselves in similar situations, too, of betraying their souls for immediate benefits and choosing not to obey God or not obey Him completely.

Third, as the latter part of today’s verse suggests, those who guard their souls could avoid perversity and then “thorns and snares.” When we are not perverse and obey God’s words and actions, the influence of His Word in our lives will be strengthened. Distancing ourselves from perversity means aligning with God’s will, and listening to the voice of our conscience. Contrarily, their lives would naturally be painful when people choose abnormality and twistedness, especially going against God’s words or stubbornly opposing His principles. This is the internal turmoil they would experience. So, we can see a crucial principle implicitly for guarding our souls is following God’s righteous heart and words with our clear conscience.

Reflection questions:

1) Do you feel troubled by your own perversity or perversity from others? If so, how would you resolve it through God’s help?

2) Do you think you are twisting God’s words for more personal gain? If so, how would you resolve it?