They are a nation void of sense; there is no understanding in them. 29 If they were wise, they would understand this; they would discern what the end would be.

Now let us be careful that we do not bring unnecessary suffering upon ourselves. We are to be `wise as serpents, and harmless as doves'. God forbid that any of us should suffer because we fail to remember that.

“Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked. . . . But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers” (Psalm 1:1–3).