As I write this, police in Indiana are looking for a man. He is easy to identify, he has “CRIME PAYS” tattooed on his forehead. Not all wicked men are this stupid; they are all this foolish. Wicked men believe that their wickedness benefits them. When we look at the world we live in, it is not hard to understand why they believe this.

Jeffrey Epstein just died in prison, but that was only after living years as a free man with the benefits of being a billionaire. For many years, his wickedness paid. This is only one of many high profile examples found in the news every day.

Sisera was such a man in his day. He was second in power only to the king and he had wealth beyond most people’s imagination. Therefore, when he went off to battle, his mother waited expectantly for him to return victorious. By earthly standards, neither he nor mother were foolish. Experience had taught them to expect victory and plunder. However, wisdom learned from experience does not give us guarantees, it gives us probabilities. When he did not return by the expected time, his mother began to worry. Her wisest counsel assured her that he was late because he was dividing the spoils. They still could not fathom the possibility of defeat. While they should have been preparing to flee for their lives, they were counting imagined plunder that would never be theirs.

Wicked men are foolish because their wisdom is limited by what they can experience in the material world. They have no way of processing spiritual evidence. Sisera had no way to comprehend the power of the God of Israel. The thought that God would defeated him and his army never even occurred to him.

Earthly wisdom says crime pays; spiritual wisdom recognizes the possibility of earthly punishment. Wisdom gives probabilities. Spiritual truth gives guarantees. “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” is Truth. (Romans 6:23)