Proverbs 28:14

The book of Proverbs gives us a lot of instruction on a lot of different subjects. One subject that can keep us in God’s wisdom is Godly Follower-ship. Who we follow; where we follow; how we follow are all spoken about in Proverbs. Here is one of them about those who fear the Lord:

Proverbs 28:14 (ESV)

Blessed is the one who fears the LORD always,

but whoever hardens his heart will fall into calamity.

Proverb is a book about opposites.  You don't have to read to far into the book, or too many proverbs, to see that wisdom and folly are in direct contrast.    Wisdom is characterized by "fearing The Lord."    Folly is characterized by those who are turning their ear away from God's Word and seeking their own desires.   This proverb is one more piece of evidence toward this end.   But, rather than stress the difference in how these two become who they are, this proverb gives us insight into what happens after they head down those two paths.   We see a life that is "blessed' and a life that will fall into "calamity."   The path of wisdom has blessing.   Although Solomon is vague as to what that means, we know it stands in stark contrast to those who fall into calamity.  This is an antithetical proverb: The second line is opposite the first line.   One of them has God at his back, easing him down the hill, the other has God in his face, as he works to climb up-hill.  When we fear God we "always" have a blessed path.   But, when we turn our heart and ear away from God and harden our hearts we fall into calamity.  Wisdom is available to him who opens the ears of his heart.   Wisdom is lost to those who harden their heart and can't find the manner by which they are to walk.   The hard heart is the one step we need to find calamity.   God has many methods of showing us His glorious wisdom.   But, all the ways God has will not be heard or seen if we have a hard heart.   Without God's Wisdom there is nothing but calamity remaining.  This is not to mean that "during the journey" of life, those who fear the Lord, won't have calamity.  Just ask Job!!  What we are hearing in this proverb should not be that those who fear the Lord will never have calamity and those who don't fear the Lord will always have calamity.  Read Psalm 73 and you can see this is not true.   Solomon is talking to us about the "end" of the journey.  Those who fear the Lord will be blessed and those who don't will, eventually, fall into permanent calamity.