Proverbs 11:20-22

Today my Proverbs reading was Proverbs 11:20-22.

This particular passage usually overshadows itself with the last verse, which is very graphic and plants a strong image into one's mind:

Proverbs 11:22
Like a gold ring in a pig's snout
is a beautiful woman without discretion.

I always find myself thinking about the waste, the impropriety. The shame of how beauty, or a gold ring, can be brought low by its context. I think the key word is waste; it's such a waste.

But today the first two verses in this passage arrested me more than this visual aphorism.

Proverbs 11:20-21
Those of crooked heart are an abomination to the Lord,
but those of blameless ways are His delight.
Be assured, an evil person will not go unpunished,
but the offspring of the righteous will be delivered.

Two things:

One...
"...those of blameless ways are His delight." How wonderful to be the delight of the Lord! I want to be His delight. And, although I am not completely blameless, there is a blamelessness that is imputed to me through the blood of Christ which purchased me and put me in right standing before God. I am overwhelmed to think of what Jesus has done for me through His death, burial and resurrection, and then to extrapolate that this grace, applied to me, actually makes me God's delight.

Two...
"Be assured, an evil person will not go unpunished,
but the offspring of the righteous will be delivered."
Did you get that? Be assured. Be assured. Don't worry. God knows what is going on. He has it under control. He's going to take care of it. Rest in Him, in His promises and be assured.