Proverbs 14:22

Do they not err that devise evil?

The grievous error of devising evil

How difficult is the task to convince any human being that he has mistaken the road to happiness! He would say, “No man can judge for another what is best suited to his nature and temperament in the way of enjoying life.” And if man had no other law to follow in the pursuit of happiness than the dictates of his own will, this reasoning would be just; and upon indifferent points of minor importance, it still remains unanswerable. But in connection with the moral course and conduct of a man’s life, the way has been laid down for him: how he must walk, and where. The wicked would deny that they do “err” at all.

1. The wicked “err” egregiously in imagining for a moment that any man is placed here to be independent of God, and of His commandments.

2. In taking it for granted that they know best what is good for them; that they can tell what will induce to their own comfort and happiness, better than the revealed law of their lives in the Word of God.

3. In conceiving that sin has any real good to confer.

4. The wicked “err” in being intent only on the present.

5. They admit and cherish in their hearts, in opposition to all reason, as well as Scripture, an idea that there will be, after all, a means of escape for them. They thus prove, by their conduct, that they do not use their reason and common sense in this supremely important concern. (A. B. Evans, D.D.)