All a man’s ways seem innocent to him, but motives are weighed by the Lord. (Proverbs 16:2)
If you say, “But we knew nothing about this,” does not He who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not He who guards your life know it? Will He not repay each person according to what he has done? (Proverbs 24:12)
I love the story of the mother of six children who discovered that cookies were missing from the kitchen cookie jar. Polling all six revealed nothing; all denied any knowledge of the theft. So she lined the children in a row facing her and announced, “It is quite obvious to me which one of you stole the cookies. That person has a feather on his nose.” When one child reached up to feel his nose, Mom had her culprit.
In nearly every context in life, we find the very clever human mind in denial or rationalization about evil deeds in life. NBA players protest wildly that they did not commit a foul when whistled. Prisoners are adamant that they didn’t commit the crime that put them behind bars and announce to the world, “I was framed.”
The mind is probably never more creative or resourceful than when it is thinking of ways to cover up sin, escape the consequences of wrongdoing, or justify evil by claiming it is really, down deep, good. After all, we know that—even in children: “The dog ate my homework.”
Solomon and his friends are so convinced of this principle that they declared it as a nonnegotiable fact: ”All a man’s ways seem innocent to him.”
Principle: When searching for wrongdoers, it helps to assume that nobody thinks they’ve done anything wrong. Even if they have, they most likely will see their behavior as well motivated and good.
In a graduate school course I took in management, the wise university professor set forth a maxim which supports King Solomon’s teaching. The prof drew an organizational chart on the board with boxes and an arrow from the bottom of the chart to the top, the highest authority box. Facing the class, he said, “Remember one thing. In an authority structure, negative information never flows up the structure. lt has to be pulled up.”
Now, why would that be? Solomon and his friends explain it this way. Those involved in the negative things that happen in an organization will commonly be struck with a sudden, chronic case of “I-can’t-recall syndrome.” This explains why detective work, forensic science, DNA analysis, congressional hearings, special investigators, and even waterboarding can become “necessary.” The guilty typically will claim ignorance of a matter and its details…unless the information is pulled out of them.
Principle: Human memory is weakest when asked to recall or accept responsibility for some catastrophe or evil act.
If these two principles seem to make discovering the true facts of a matter seem impossible, Proverbs makes it clear that this is not the case. In both of the above passages, the assurance is given that there is someone who knows all the details—even at the secret heart and motive level. That is God. Not only does He know everything, He acts on His knowledge “repaying each person for what he has done.” What a relief. There is ultimate justice. God guarantees it! When I was wronged as a young man, my father taught me, “Relax, Larry. God keeps good books.”
Principle: justice is ultimately served not by the feeble attempts at discovery we humans create but by the just actions of the Righteous One who already knows all the details…of everything.
Rely on that.
[from “Wisdom for the Trenches” by Dr. Larry W. Poland]