Bold as a Lion Part II

“The wicked are edgy with guilt, ready to run off even when no one's after them;
honest people are relaxed and confident, bold as lions”.  Prov. 28:1  MSG Bible

Our first example of someone being pursued by a guilty conscience is Adam in the Garden of Eden.   He sins against God and acts wickedly, believing the serpent instead of God. 

Gen. 3:8 says that Adam and Eve “heard the sound of the Lord walking in the garden in the cool of the day”.   Not stalking, not pursuing them, He is just walking. 

Verse 8 goes on to say: “And the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden”.   Then the Lord called to the man and said, “Where are you?”  Adam said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden and I was afraid”.

Never before did Adam have to flee at the arrival of God and now he flees when no one is pursuing him.  Why?   Because his conscience condemns him and he feels it in the presence of God.

“The wicked flee when no one is pursuing.” (Prov. 28:1)   This is teaching us that we have a conscience given by God, and that our conscience is committed to getting our accounts settled------to making things right when we have done wrong.

In fact, this God-given conscience is so committed not to let us rest with unrectified wrong that it will create pursuers out of nothing.    A guilty conscience will turn shadows into phantoms and ambulances into police cars and innocent inquiries into indictments and doorbells into threats and parents into cross-examiners ….etc.

A guilty conscience will create pursuers out of anything unless we drown it with alcohol, or numb it with drugs, or silence it with endless blasts of music or harden it with constant denials.   The wicked are people who will not make right what they have done wrong nor set their hearts to do right.    While the grace of God persists, they flee when no one pursues.    Woe to the wicked that cease to hear the footsteps of God in the garden.

The righteous are not so.   The verse in Prov. 28:1 goes on to say, “The wicked flee when no one is pursuing, but the righteous are bold as lions.”

Who are the righteous?  

Who are the lion-hearted righteous ones?

One answer can be found in Psalms 32:1-2, David said, “Oh, what joy for those
whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sin is put out of sight!
 Yes, what joy for those whose record the Lord has cleared of guilt,
whose lives are lived in complete honesty!” (NLT)

The righteous are the ones who trust in the Lord----the ones who have faith and bank their hope on the mercy and power of God.    These are the ones whose sins are forgiven.

They are free from fear!  Their consciences are “sprinkled clean” from an evil conscience.  Their hearts no longer condemn them and they are right with God, because of His grace.  

Their boldness with God and man shows the worth and the value of the gospel of God’s grace.   (Heb. 10:22, 4:2,6  I John 3:21)

“Many sorrows come to the wicked,
but unfailing love surrounds those who trust the Lord.                                      

 So rejoice in the Lord and be glad, all you who obey him!
Shout for joy, all you whose hearts are pure!”    Ps 32:10-11 NLT