Blog - Proverbs 3:25

If you like this blog, then you will like Get Wisdom, Get Understanding which is Pastor Wagner's commentary series on the book of Proverbs which is available on Amazon in paperback or Kindle. Find out more here. For all the blogs in this series, click here: Proverbs Commentary. Proverbs 3:25 "Be not afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation of the wicked, when it cometh." (Pro 3:25)

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This exhortation by Solomon is quite apropos in these trying times in which we live. There is a sense of impending doom today in the minds of many, and this feeling is not without merit. Threats of Covid-19 "vaccine" mandates along with the prospect of job loss for noncompliance, the quickly approaching dystopian nightmare of totalitarianism via "heath passports" and a cashless society, and the potential for an economic collapse and a currency crisis are all things which have the potential to provoke fear in the minds of God's children. Despite all of the perils that could happen, the LORD nevertheless admonishes us to be not afraid. Be not afraid of sudden fear. Let's start by defining the terms. Fear is "a sudden and terrible event; peril; the emotion of pain or uneasiness caused by the sense of impending danger, or by the prospect of some possible evil" (OED). A sudden fear is one that is "happening or coming without warning or premonition; taking place or appearing all at once" (OED). In this verse God is telling us that we must not fear fear. Franklin D. Roosevelt was wrong when he said "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself" in his first inaugural address. Those who trust in God for safety and protection and live in obedience to His word have nothing to fear, period. We must never forget that the Lord is on our side, and therefore we should not fear wicked men and their evil devices.

Psa 118:6 - The LORD is on my side; I will not fear: what can man do unto me?

Neither of the desolation of the wicked, when it cometh. In addition to not being afraid of sudden fear, we must also not be afraid of the desolation of the wicked. Desolation is "the action of laying waste a land, etc., destroying its people, crops, and buildings, and making it unfit for habitation; utter devastation; an act or occasion of this kind" (OED). The desolation of the wicked often happens suddenly.

Pro 6:12-15 - A naughty person, a wicked man, walketh with a froward mouth. 13 He winketh with his eyes, he speaketh with his feet, he teacheth with his fingers; 14 Frowardness is in his heart, he deviseth mischief continually; he soweth discord. 15 Therefore shall his calamity come suddenly; suddenly shall he be broken without remedy.

God destroyed the earth with a flood suddenly in the days of Noah after waiting for 120 years. God judged Sodom and Gomorrah suddenly after enduring their vile sin for a long time. Babylon was likewise brought to desolation suddenly.

Isa 47:11 - Therefore shall evil come upon thee; thou shalt not know from whence it riseth: and mischief shall fall upon thee; thou shalt not be able to put it off: and desolation shall come upon thee suddenly, which thou shalt not know.

At the end of time just prior to the coming of Christ when the wicked "shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape" (1Th 5:3). God is longsuffering, but once the space of repentance of the wicked runs out, they "shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy" (Pro 29:1). This may seem frightening, but if we are living wise and godly lives, we need not worry about the sudden desolation of the wicked because the Lord will protect us from it as the next verse states.