𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐛𝐬 𝟐𝟖:𝟏 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐥𝐞𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐧𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐩𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐮𝐞𝐭𝐡: 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐞𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧.

A clear conscience is a precious and wonderful thing. Hear the Preacher! Its value cannot be measured on earth. Without one, your soul nervously looks around to see who is watching or coming to get you. With one, you fear no evil. You can take on any opponent. Why be afraid? You know you are righteous; you know the Lord is with you. What a huge difference! Sin makes men cowards. The wicked fear mere shadows and run away. They dread judgment in this world and the next, much like the condemned angels (Matt 8:29). The holy God torments their souls with doubt and fear (Job 15:20-25). They imagine enemies and hide. They are easily intimidated. Their hearts fear this is the time they will be caught and exposed, punished and judged. For courage, they drown their conscience – with noise, man’s praise, activity, false religion, alcohol, or drugs. The righteous fear nothing. Godliness makes great men with courage. They are like the fearless lion, which does not turn away from any (Pr 30:30; Num 23:24; Is 31:4). It is able to sleep in the open as easily as in a thicket, for its great confidence and boldness. Reader, greatness is before you. Do you see it? Believe it; understand it; seize it. Do not leave this proverb until you grasp it in both hands, and never let it go. A pure conscience will make you great. You will fear nothing. The Lord will be your sword and shield. No enemy will stand before you. No trial will expose or condemn you. Greatness is yours! The LORD put a candle in each man to search and judge his thoughts and actions (Pr 20:27). It is called the conscience. This internal light from God judges each man’s actions as wrong, or excuses them as right (Rom 2:14-15; I Cor 2:11). The Lord will chase you with this fearful enemy inside, if you sin against Him (Lev 26:17,36; Ps 53:5). When wicked Pharisees tried to trap Jesus with the woman taken in adultery, He asked for the first stone to be cast by any man without sin (John 8:1-11). From the oldest to the youngest, their consciences condemned them, and they left Jesus and the woman alone. Could David have faced Goliath with a guilty conscience? How? With sin on his conscience, he would have had no confidence in God’s deliverance, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment. But his heart and mind were pure before the Lord. He would not have feared, if the whole Philistine army had fought him (Psalm 3:6; 27:1-6; 46:1-5). The great men in history, God’s great men, always had pure consciences. They could go boldly in God’s power against any enemies or circumstances (Ps 112:7). They feared no man. They knew, if put on trial, nothing wrong could be laid against them. There was no weakness in their faith; they knew the Lord was with them, not against them (Is 26:3-4). Paul went on trial without fear of any man accusing him of wrongdoing (Acts 23:1). No threat of danger moved him (Acts 20:24). Daniel and three friends had no fear of death threats (Dan 3:16-18; 6:10). And Moses did not fear the wrath of the king (Heb 11:27). These are but a few of the exploits done by those who did know their God (Dan 11:32). But Cain, the profane murderer, was filled with morbid terror of invisible danger (Gen 4:13-15). He responded like his father, Adam, who trembled in fear amidst the Garden’s trees, when God merely called his name (Gen 3:9-10). The consciences of Joseph’s brethren were still chasing them 22 years after selling him into slavery (Gen 42:21). But Joseph, though falsely charged and convicted of attempted rape, could stand boldly before Pharaoh and his father as savior of Egypt and his family. Glory! Young reader, do you hear the Preacher? Seize greatness! Keep your conscience clear, pure, confident, and bold. Do not spoil it by playing with sin, even private sins, even sin in your thoughts. The candle of the Lord does not miss the private sins of lustful thoughts and secret fantasies. It will condemn you and steal your courage from the inside out...