¹²A worthless person, a wicked man, is the one who walks with a perverse mouth, ¹³who winks with his eyes, who signals with his feet, who points with his fingers; ¹⁴who with perversity in his heart continually devises evil, who spreads strife. ¹⁵Therefore his calamity will come suddenly; instantly he will be broken and there will be no healing.

Stark, sobering realism strikes with shock and awe on those who thoroughly act out their fully intentioned evil actions. This passage is not only about figures like Adolf Hitler and his kind, whom everyone agrees is obviously evil. This description includes people who act in subtle ways that may not seem evil on the surface but who dress up their wicked thoughts for the deceptive manipulation of others. Psalm 36:1-4 ratifies this description when it speaks of the ungodly person who has no fear of God and “flatters” himself “concerning the discovery of his iniquity and the hatred of it.” He thinks no one can pin him with wrongdoing! But he forgets that God is real and is keeping watch.

Our text pulls no punches, using strong terms without tempering them to soften the judgment. The person here is “worthless,” “wicked,” and “perverse.” The voice of naysayers will counter, “Who are we to judge?” I believe Solomon, who wrote this under divine inspiration, might respond, “If the shoe fits, wear it.” While we must be careful about superficial judgments, there are times when we need to follow the biblical example and “call a spade a spade.” And if the spade finds barren soil in our lives, we must accept the judgment. But this does not divert us from acknowledging that, yes, there are evil people in the world who fit this description—even coworkers, neighbors, or family members. While Solomon is warning his “son” about evil people (vs. 1), he also wants to strike fear in his son about the consequences of becoming a wicked person. God warns all of us who read this passage.

Let the description sink in; this kind of person is useless for anything worthwhile in life. The inference is that we all have potential value for contributing to others, our community, and even God. But an evil person does none of that. He is only concerned about what is good for himself; that controls everything he does. To use a modern term, he is the very definition of narcissism. His ways are perverse, that is, his life is crooked. The Hebrew term is often used for a pathway that is not straight but perversely crooked. His view of reality is so twisted that everything he thinks, says, and does is a distortion of what is accurate, authentic, and factual. His words are slippery and fluid, designed to bend, distort, and twist the truth. His explanations are laughable to any sensible person when confronted with his duplicity.

Lying comes out of his mouth as truth; he is pointed in one direction but headed in the opposite direction. He “signals with his feet,” in other words, he says the correct way to turn is left, but then he turns right. He thrives on conflict (“spreads strife”) and thinks up ways to cause trouble. His lies are his tools, his weapons. If he can only convince others of his alternate “reality,” he can change what is true and win the battle of life with him at the top of the hill. It is all designed to advance his self-benefiting agenda.

But a person’s distortions don’t change reality. Such thinking, talking, and living will only spiral down like a dark vortex from which there is no escape. He is unaware of the self-destructing descent. As he spins inexorably toward his demise, this self-deluded person thinks he’s got it all under control. When the “calamity” crashes on him, he will be broken beyond healing. How tragic; he has done it to himself.

That person goes down holding tightly to his lies, his distorted view of reality, blaming everyone else. He continually holds on to the very thing that brought him down: the twisted notion that he is the center of reality, the greatest lie of all—what a pathetic, terrible waste of human life!

This passage may seem grim, but we must take the warning seriously as we begin each day living out our Christian lives in the fear of the Lord. Reality will not change when we believe lies; we must commit to integrity in our lives. We must recognize our own propensity to self-delusion and listen to feedback and correction from others. And we will all encounter people who will be so foolish as to never get past their own self-centeredness. We must remind ourselves that their “calamity” is inevitable. Proverbs will give us more practical help in dealing with such people as we read on. But the main positive take-away here is that we need to make our lives worthwhile, so that we are useful to God and to others, and not lost in self-deluded self-centeredness.

Lord, search my heart and mind and reveal any delusions I harbor about life, people, and conflict. I want You to be the center of all I think, say, and do.