Proverbs 1:16-20
 
Prov 1:16 (KJB)
For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood.
 
If you notice the theme in both phrases in this verse, it is that of quickly moving toward the evil and then escalating to violence to the point of murder. These people just don’t walk toward the evil, they are so reprobate that they run toward the evil. We can also look at this in another light, that some people are so given to evil works, they look for evil works which they can partake in. Their dead nature causes them to seek the ways of the world and to walk in harmony with the ways of the world is to walk in evil since Satan is the god of this world. (1 John 2:15 KJV) Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. This is why John gave the admonition to the believer that our love is not to be focused on the world nor the ways of the world. Those who love and live in the ways of the world give evidence of the fact that they are unsaved. No believer should ever take on the life of the unsaved.
 
Prov 1:17 (KJB)
Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird.
 
(Isa 29:15 KJV) Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the LORD, and their works are in the dark, and they say, Who seeth us? and who knoweth us? The unbelievers think that they are so smart and they will never get caught in their evil pursuits. Proverbs 1:17 states that if you are trying to capture a bird but you are setting the trap when they are all watching, it will be an exercise in futility for even a bird has enough intelligence to know when a trap is being set. The evil workers believe their plans are infallible and yet, by their own works, they ensnare themselves too as we will see in the next verse. It is impossible to plan any evil work without the Lord seeing it as we read in Isaiah 29:15.
 
Prov 1:18 (KJB)
And they lay wait for their own blood; they lurk privily for their own lives.
 
If there is one true fact that evil workers never factor into their own plans is the reality of their plans backfiring. They wait to pounce on others and to hurt others but while they are doing this, they are setting up the destruction of their own eternal souls. Sometimes they will lose their physical lives in the pursuit of ill-gotten gain but if they get away with it and never see a day in prison, they will still have to give an account at the White Throne Judgment Seat of Christ and if they died without a Savior, they will be cast into eternal hell. They will then realize that all the days of their evil activities were only a set up for their own destruction. (Heb 4:13 KJV) Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.
 
Prov 1:19 (KJB)
So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; which taketh away the life of the owners thereof.
 
Ways - Path, way, or lifestyle
 
Those who choose to engage in the lifestyle of greed will find that their entire life will be consumed in the gathering and maintaining of the ill-gotten gain. Once they get the taste of this lifestyle, they must dedicate their entire life to maintaining it. Pretty soon they turn around and the gray hairs are setting in and realized they have wasted their whole life in evil pursuits and they did not really enjoy it. Not only can someone dedicate their whole life to it, they may even lose their own life as others who live the same lifestyle will eye their goods and attempt to take them as they did.
 
Prov 1:20 (KJB)
Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets:
 
Wisdom is not only found within the confines of a church but wisdom is all around us and is freely available to anyone who heeds its call. It comes through teachers and wise people and most of all through the experience of life. The primary source of true wisdom is found in the Scriptures because it comes from the mind of God. When we saturate ourselves with the teachings of Scripture, we will not be snared into following the pernicious ways of the world because we will spot the traps, just as the birds spot the trap.

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