"A worthless person, a wicked man, goes about with crooked speech, winks with his eyes, signals with his feet, points with his finger, with perverted heart devises evil, continually sowing discord; therefore calamity will come upon him suddenly; in a moment he will be broken beyond healing" (Proverbs 6:12-15).
The worthless and wicked person are one in the same. The verbs in this passage are singular so we know Solomon is talking about one scoundrel here. Someone is worthless when they live apart from God's design for their life. Their life is marked by lies and deceit. Their whole body indicates deception. Winks and signals give them away. It's much like when I was a child as I would cross my fingers while making a promise. With fingers crossed, no promise could stick. Or at least that is what I would claim after the fact.
There is no wisdom in deception. The perverted heart is foolish and thus out of it comes perversion of the truth. The perverted heart stirs up dissension and thus destroys unity within community. The warning is clear; calamity follows such foolishness.
To avoid such brokenness of life, one must speak truthfully and work toward harmony. Promises made must be promises kept or else a tragic end to relationships and community follow. The solution is found in speaking truth from a pure heart. Unity is experienced when everyone involved stops winking, signaling, and pointing one direction while speaking toward another. That is called crooked speech and the consequences for that are devastating.
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