Proverbs 13:19

Proverbs 13:19 ESV

     A desire fulfilled is sweet to the soul,

     but to turn away from evil is an abomination to fools.

 

Having the view of inspiration of Scripture that I do, I look at this verse and believe that the two halves of the proverb were not arbitrarily put together: there must be a meaning that can be discerned by God's children so they can profit.

 

The key in this verse seems to be 'desire'.  Chapter 13 talks a lot about desire:

 

Proverbs 13:2 ESV

     From the fruit of his mouth a man eats what is good,

     but the desire of the treacherous is for violence.

 

Proverbs 13:12 ESV

     Hope deferred makes the heart sick,

     but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.

 

Proverbs 13:25 ESV

     The righteous has enough to satisfy his appetite,

     but the belly of the wicked suffers want.

 

In common among these verses is the universality of desire: both the righteous and the wicked experience desire. Also significant among these verses is the nature of the desire: the righteous desires the good, but the wicked desires that which is evil: and that God will fulfill the desire of the righteous but the desire of the wicked will ultimately be thwarted.

 

So, back to verse 19.

The desire of the wicked is evil, so to turn away from his desire is ridiculous!  Why would I do that??? It is an abomination to him: religiously he rejects that demand because it is the opposite of what he is pursuing.

 

Now take the [presumably] righteous; when he gets his desire it is sweet.  I want to comment on 'is sweet'.

 

In many things in life there are opinions: some particular food is delicious for one while disgusting for another.  There are many reasons for this; the reasons are unimportant, what matters is the fact that this is true.  One of the things that a person may find enjoyable more than another is the sweetness of something.  I have known many Europeans and have offered them root beer.  To a person they have all rejected root beer as ekelhaft (disgusting).  Now, I haven't asked them, but I believe they thought it was too sweet (this experiment was done on Germans (mostly) and a few French).  The argument was not that the root beer was or wasn't sweet, the argument was that it was too sweet. (I believe this also because while in Europe I noticed that most things were not as sweet as they are in the US, and not as cold either.)

 

So, when we get to Prov 13:19, I think we must believe that Solomon is making more than a value statement, I think he is making a statement that the desire fulfilled is sweet (putting aside now whether it is disgustingly sweet, I'm pretty sure he would have chosen a different word).  The desire (in this case the righteous desire) fulfilled is sweet, it is good, it is not bitter.  In verse 12 he calls it 'a tree of life'.

 

God is not a cosmic killjoy; God is one who longs to fulfill our deepest longings.  Unfortunately he finds our desires too weak, we desire things of this world that only partially and only temporarily satisfy instead of that which answers our deepest needs and desires.

 

So how might this work in the 'real world'?

For the wicked, his desire is for wealth that is gained through deception or other wicked plan.  Verse 11 tells us that wealth gained hastily will dwindle.  How many lottery winners who are now bankrupt and miserable do we need to hear about before we recognize this. 

 

But the righteous who gather little by little in a godly manner who do not cheat and have no reason for regret; these are the people who by training and by blessing maintain their wealth and indeed are truly wealthy because they have something better than money: peace.

 

Choose to be truly wealthy.  Choose to have desires fulfilled and sweet.  Choose life.

 

Psalm 37:3-4 ESV

     Delight yourself in the LORD,

     and he will give you the desires of your heart.

 

Praise You Father for fulfilled desires.

Praise You Son for good desires.

Praise You Spirit for transformed desires.

 

Desiring the best with you,

Pastor Greg