The Inevitable Destination of the Heart Text: Proverbs 14:22
Introduction: Two Ways to Live
The book of Proverbs is intensely practical, but it is not a book of disconnected moralisms for self-improvement. It is a book about covenant theology, lived out in the dust and grit of everyday life. Every proverb is a description of the world as it actually is, under the government of a holy God. And in God's world, there are only two paths a man can walk. There is the way of wisdom, and the way of folly. There is the path of the righteous, and the path of the wicked. There are no other options, no third ways, no neutral territories. Every decision, every thought, every plan you devise is a step down one of these two roads.
Our secular age wants to pretend this is not so. It wants to imagine a world where a man can devise a little evil here, a little good there, and somehow average out to be a decent fellow. The modern man believes his heart is a murky but generally well-intentioned place, and that his schemes are just complicated strategies for navigating a complicated world. But Scripture cuts through this self-deception with a sharp, two-edged sword. It tells us that the heart is a workshop, a place where plans are forged. And the plans forged there are either evil or good, with no middle ground.
This proverb before us today is a diagnostic question. It forces us to look at the blueprints we are drawing up in the secret chambers of our hearts and asks a very simple question: where do you think this is going to end up? The answer is not a mystery. The destination is determined by the direction. You cannot plot a course for perdition and hope to arrive at the Celestial City. The moral universe is fixed. God has built it in such a way that certain actions have certain, unavoidable consequences. This is not karma; this is covenant. This is the unwavering reality of a world governed by a God who is not mocked.
The Text
Will they not wander in error who devise evil?
But lovingkindness and truth will be to those who devise good.
(Proverbs 14:22 LSB)
The Crooked Path of the Evil Schemer
The first half of the verse comes to us as a rhetorical question, which is a common feature in wisdom literature. The answer is so obvious that it ought to strike us between the eyes.
"Will they not wander in error who devise evil?" (Proverbs 14:22a)
The question expects a resounding "Yes, of course they will." The man who "devises evil" is not just someone who stumbles into sin. The Hebrew word here for devise means to plow, to engrave, to plot. This is a man who is actively cultivating sin. He is tilling the soil of his heart for a harvest of wickedness. He is an architect of rebellion, drawing up blueprints for deceit, envy, slander, or fraud. He thinks he is being clever, strategic, and shrewd. He believes he is carving out a shortcut to prosperity, or pleasure, or power.
But what is the result of all this careful planning? He will "wander in error." He will go astray. The very thing he thought was a clever shortcut is, in reality, a path that leads nowhere. It is a labyrinth of his own making. The word for error here means to stray, to be deceived, to wander. The man who thinks he is the master of his own dark designs is, in fact, utterly lost. He is a fool who has outsmarted himself. He plots the downfall of another and digs a pit for himself (Psalm 7:15). He thinks he is weaving a clever web to trap his neighbor, but he is the fly who will be caught in it.
This is because sin is fundamentally irrational. It is a departure from reality. To sin is to declare war on the way things actually are. When you devise evil, you are betting against the house, and the house is owned by God Almighty. You are attempting to build a crooked house on a foundation of sand, and God's laws of moral gravity will ensure that it comes crashing down. The schemer thinks he is in control, but his sin controls him. He is not a sovereign plotter; he is a slave, wandering in a fog of his own proud deceptions.
We see this everywhere. The politician who lies to gain power becomes entangled in his own web of deceit. The businessman who cheats his customers finds his reputation ruined and his business bankrupt. The man who nurses a secret lust finds it metastasizing into an addiction that destroys his family and his soul. They all thought they were being clever. They were all just plowing fields of error, and the harvest is always confusion and ruin.
The Sure Path of the Good Planner
In stark contrast, the second half of the proverb lays out the destiny of the righteous man.
"But lovingkindness and truth will be to those who devise good." (Proverbs 14:22b LSB)
Notice the parallel. The righteous man is also a planner. He "devises good." Righteousness is not a passive affair. It is not a matter of simply avoiding evil. The good man is also an architect. He is actively plotting, planning, and cultivating goodness. He thinks about how to bless his neighbor, how to build up his family, how to be faithful in his work, how to honor God with his resources. He is a man of holy intention. He gets up in the morning and asks, "How can I plow a field for the glory of God today?"
And what is the result of his planning? What does he find on his path? He finds "lovingkindness and truth." These two words are a powerhouse pair in the Old Testament. They are the Hebrew hesed and emet. This is covenant language. It describes the very character of God Himself. When God revealed His glory to Moses, He described Himself as "abounding in lovingkindness and truth" (Exodus 34:6).
Hesed, or lovingkindness, is steadfast, loyal, covenant love. It is grace that is tenacious and persistent. Emet, or truth, is faithfulness, reliability, and firmness. It is rock-solid reality. So, the man who devises good finds that his path is paved with God's own character. He is met by God's covenant faithfulness. As he walks in the way of goodness, he finds that the very fabric of the universe is on his side. He is walking with the grain of reality, not against it.
This doesn't mean his life will be free of trouble. Devising good in a fallen world often means you will run into opposition from those who devise evil. But it means that underneath it all, supporting it all, and ultimately vindicating it all, is the steadfast love and faithfulness of God. While the evil schemer wanders into a dead end of his own making, the good planner walks into the arms of his covenant-keeping God. His plans align with God's plans, and therefore, they are the only plans that will ultimately succeed.
The Fork in the Road is Christ
This proverb, like all of Proverbs, sets before us two ways. But we must not read this as a simple manual for moralistic self-effort. If we do, we are all condemned. For who among us can say that he has never devised evil? Who can claim that his heart has only ever been a workshop for good? "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way" (Isaiah 53:6). Our natural inclination is to wander in error because our hearts, since the Fall, are factories of evil devising.
The fundamental problem is not that we are bad planners, but that we are sinful planners. We need more than a new strategy; we need a new heart. And this is precisely what the gospel provides.
Jesus Christ is the ultimate man who devised good. His entire life was a perfect execution of a divine plan to bring about the greatest good for the glory of God and the salvation of His people. He was the ultimate architect of righteousness. And what did He meet on that path? He was met by the ultimate manifestation of evil devising. The Pharisees plotted against Him. Judas schemed to betray Him. The crowds conspired to have Him murdered. The greatest good was met with the greatest evil.
And on the cross, something remarkable happened. God took all of the evil devising of sinful men, from Adam to the last man, and He laid it upon His Son. Jesus, who only ever devised good, willingly entered the labyrinth of our error. He took our wandering upon Himself. He was forsaken so that we who wander might be brought home.
And because He did, God met His perfect, good plan with the ultimate expression of hesed and emet. He showed His steadfast love and faithfulness by raising Jesus from the dead. The resurrection is God's great "Amen" to the good plan of His Son. It is the ultimate proof that the path of righteousness, though it may pass through the valley of the shadow of death, is the only path that leads to life.
Therefore, the choice before us is not simply to "try harder to devise good." The choice is to abandon our own pathetic and sinful plans and to trust in Christ's perfect plan. Through faith, we are united to Him. His righteousness becomes ours. The Holy Spirit is given to us, and He begins the work of rewiring our hearts, turning our inner workshop from a place that devises evil into a place that learns to devise good.
When you are in Christ, you are no longer defined by your wandering. You are defined by His faithfulness. And as you learn to walk in His ways, planning and plotting for His kingdom, you will find, day by day, that your path is met by the steadfast, covenantal lovingkindness and truth of your Father. He will not let you wander astray, for you are on the path that His Son has already paved for you, all the way home.