“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
As the father continues to share wisdom with his son, he turns his attention to a particular kind of person. This person thinks they are getting away with everything, and it might even seem like they are, but they don’t know that they are already broken: it’s just a matter of time before they realize they are.
Worthless and Wicked
The hallmark of an already but not yet broken man is that they are “continually sowing discord.” Another way of putting this is that they break down the unity in a family, a church, or a community. God hates this trait so much that he condemns this kind of person as “worthless.”
The Hebrew word is “Belial,” which would later become synonymous with the devil himself (2 Corinthians 6:15). The devil is wicked: a liar and murderer (John 8:44). The person described in this passage has become like the devil.
Watch Out for These Red Flags
How do you spot the already but not yet broken person? This section gives us some red flags to watch out for in another person’s character.
How they talk
Never ignore how people talk because the heart is revealed through words. Jesus said that what we say is the overflow of what is in our hearts (Luke 6:45; Matthew 12:34). This can sometimes be scary when you let something out that even surprises yourself! Yet, it is true.
This warning from Solomon, however, goes beyond the occasional comment to a deeper corruption in the person’s speech. From the rest of Proverbs, we know “crooked speech” could include “lies (Proverbs 6:19; 13:5; 14:5, 25; 25:18), rumors (Proverbs 18:8), slander (Proverbs 10:18; 20:19), and gossip (Proverbs 11:13; 17:4). All of these are destructive of relationships, both intimate (family) and beyond (society).”1
Recently, I saw in the news that a prominent pastor was removed from his office for using all of these weapons of crooked speech to go after other pastors and church leaders anonymously. Sadly, this pastor was one of these already but not yet broken men, who has now been publicly broken.
How they act
Second, these people are shifty and sneaky. They seem to constantly be motioning, casting side-eye glances, and plotting something. These are the types who mock a teacher or a pastor while they are speaking. They are always looking for ways to get around the system or to undermine the authority in their lives. They always seem to have a hidden agenda, a private conversation running underneath the group conversation, or their own highly stilted version of events. All of it aims to subvert the relationships and community around them for their personal advantage.
These people will try to suck you into their schemes, and often they will do this by making you feel special or accepted. In the end, however, you will realize you were just a pawn in their schemes and that it’s been all about them and their agenda the whole time.
How they think
This Proverb says these people have a perverted heart that devises evil. I’ve known these kinds of people. They seem to continually come up with something twisted. Their hearts and minds are corrupted, and it’s almost like they can’t help but come up with wicked things. The first two categories above (speech and actions) flow from their hearts. Corrupt words and twisted actions flow out of a perverted heart.
This is an important principle to understand, or you will misdiagnose the problem. Suppose you think people are primarily motivated by external circumstances. In that case, you will look for external reasons for their speech and behavior, thinking that if you can fix what’s around them, you will fix them. The Bible teaches that speech and behavior are sourced from the inside of the person; therefore, the heart must be changed to change behavior.
How they influence
The last red flag to watch out for is the effect the person has on those around them. How do they influence the group, the family, the business, or the church? This influence is the fruit of their behavior. Jesus said that a bad tree cannot bear good fruit, nor can a good tree bear bad fruit; you recognize a person by his fruit (Matthew 7:18-20).
This one takes a little while to evaluate, but you can assess the fruit of a person’s life over time. Do they sow discord or promote unity? Do relational divisions follow them wherever they go? Or do you see the people around them growing closer together and healing? Do they honor and submit to the authority in their lives, or is there an attitude of independence and defiance?
A person’s words, thoughts, actions, and influence give them away. If you pay attention, however, you will learn to spot the already but not yet broken person.
Broken Beyond Healing
Without repentance, you can be assured that the internal reality of this person’s brokenness will eventually become the external reality of their existence. Sometimes it seems people are getting away with things, but that is never the case. David commented on this in Psalm 73. He was almost in a state of envying the wicked because they appeared to prosper. But then, he remembered their end, that they will be “destroyed in a moment” (Psalm 73:19).
As Christians, we do not take joy in the destruction of the wicked (Ezekiel 33:11), but we must remember God’s justice and the end of all those who reject Jesus Christ as Lord (Revelation 20:14-15). We must not be influenced by the already but not yet broken man. At the same time, like our Savior, we want all men to be saved and know the truth (1 Timothy 2:4).
So let us walk in truth and love, discernment and mercy, being as wise as serpents and innocent as doves (Matthew 10:16). We want to rescue those being led away from the truth while avoiding the judgment of the already but not yet broken man.
- Tremper Longman III, Baker Commentary on the Old Testament: Proverbs (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2006), 174. ↩︎
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