Although I had read the verse well over a hundred times, I had always missed its relevance for today and, in particular, our anticipation of Jesus’ imminent appearing. Perhaps it was because the words don’t directly relate to Bible prophecy that I overlooked their relevance to it.
However, as the new year dawned, I saw in the verse below an understanding of why so many people today cling to their hope of a return to normality rather than what Jesus says about their only sure hope for the perilous days in which we live: “For the simple are killed by their turning away, and the complacency of fools destroys them” (Proverbs 1:32, emphasis added).
It was the word “complacency” that leaped from the page on January 1. The Hebrew word is shalvah, which also denotes a sense of ease and prosperity. The online Merriam-Webster dictionary defines complacency as “self-satisfaction, especially when accompanied by unawareness of actual dangers or deficiencies.”
It’s understandable why many English versions of the Bible translate shalvah in Proverbs 1:32 as “complacency,” as it fits rather well with the Hebrew word’s sense of self-absorption that leads to a dismissal of dangers until it is too late.
Today’s Church
Unfortunately, today’s prosperity leads many to a state of complacency regarding the Lord’s return, one that causes them to ignore the multitude of signs pointing to the start of the Tribulation. Like the church in Laodicea, arrogant “self-satisfaction” is prevalent among many gatherings of the faithful, particularly in America.
False teaching and/or quietness from the pulpit directs most church attenders away from any awareness that we live in the last days of human history as we know it. Their shepherds fail to teach them how to discern the times in which we live. Their messages might contain fleeting mentions of eternal life, but there’s no meaningful teaching about what it means for New Testament saints.
The resulting complacency among many of today’s church-goers doesn’t mean that those who are truly born again will lose their salvation, no, not at all. But why should believers continue with such an earth-based outlook on life, shalvah, which for those outside of Christ will result in ruin?
The World
The world rejects any notion that the Lord might intervene in our world. Since they spurn all the warnings of Scripture, it never enters their minds that God might judge the wickedness of our day. Not only is the idea of Jesus’ return laughable to them, but they also readily scorn any notion of God’s judgment, now or in eternity.
Peter A. Steveson, in A Commentary on Proverbs, put it this way in his insights into Proverbs 1:32: “Filled with the carelessness of self-confidence, these fools show no concern over divine judgment.“
We see this same worldly recklessness in the words of Ezekiel as he used the word shalvah to describe the people of Sodom before they experienced the Lord’s sudden destruction (compare 1 Thessalonians 5:1-3): “Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy” (Ezekiel 16:49, emphasis added).
The problem with such self-satisfaction is not with what one possesses but rather with the fact it breeds complacency regarding the warnings of God’s Word and a failure to recognize that the Lord’s promise of eternal life is vastly superior to anything the world offers.
Those Who Hear
I know the majority of those reading fall into the category described in Proverbs 1:33: “But whoever listens to me will dwell secure and will be at ease, without dread of disaster.”
Those who hope in Jesus’ imminent appearing possess a peace amid all the unwelcome news that continually comes our way. We pray for the Lord to keep us resisting the wickedness and violence of our day, but at the same time, we rest in the confidence that Jesus is coming for us before the terrors of the Day of the Lord.
Is it too much of a leap to say that the wise believers of our day discern the times in which we live and thus recognize the imminency of Jesus’ appearing? Please note the reassuring words that the Lord gave to Daniel, and to us, shortly before the prophet’s death: “Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand” (Daniel 12:10, KJV).
In today’s world, it’s the discerning saints who avoid the complacency that characterizes many church-goers and those in the world who don’t believe that the Lord will directly intervene in the affairs of humanity.
If you look for and long for Jesus’ appearing, thank the Lord for the insight He has given you into Scripture. In 1 Corinthians 1:18-31, Paul contrasts the wisdom of God with that of the world and ends with these words: “And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, ‘Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.’”
We must always give the Lord all the credit for who we are in Him as well as for our understanding of what the Bible says about our “blessed hope.” I know many sincere New Testament saints remain complacent regarding the signs of the times and Jesus’ imminent appearing. I don’t fully understand why this is the case or why it’s so clear to us and not to others.
What I do know for sure is this: if there ever was a time for complacency in the body of Christ, this most assuredly is not it.
