When justice is done, the righteous rejoice and the wicked dread; how a man feels about justice exposes his heart.
A defining test of the heart appears in Proverbs 21:15: The exercise of justice is joy for the righteous, But is terror to the workers of iniquity (v. 15). When justice is actually done, the righteous celebrate and the wicked dread.
The verse exposes a revealing test for the heart: how does a person feel when wrongdoing is punished? If justice produces joy, the heart is aligned with God's; if justice produces fear, the heart has something to hide.
The question the verse poses is whether the moral order itself is welcome to the soul. The righteous welcome it because they are at home in it. The wicked dread it because they have built their lives against it.
Proverbs 21:15
15 The exercise of justice is joy for the righteous,
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Proverbs 21:15 meaning
A defining test of the heart appears in Proverbs 21:15: The exercise of justice is joy for the righteous, But is terror to the workers of iniquity (v. 15). When justice is actually done, the righteous celebrate and the wicked dread.
The verse exposes a revealing test for the heart: how does a person feel when wrongdoing is punished? If justice produces joy, the heart is aligned with God's; if justice produces fear, the heart has something to hide.
The question the verse poses is whether the moral order itself is welcome to the soul. The righteous welcome it because they are at home in it. The wicked dread it because they have built their lives against it.