Proverbs 4:16

For evil people can’t sleep until they’ve done their evil deed for the day. They can’t rest until they’ve caused someone to stumble.

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Let me say this right off top: This one’s heavy. Real people. Real harm. Real stakes. But sometimes Wisdom steps in because the moment is heavy.

🌀 When Sleep Won’t Come

Have you ever noticed that some people aren’t satisfied until they see someone else suffer? Not inconvenienced… not disagreed with… But hurt…permanent damage.

That’s what this Proverb is describing:

“For evil people can’t sleep until they’ve done their evil deed for the day. They can’t rest until they’ve caused someone to stumble.”

Not cartoon villains. Not movie monsters. But people so driven, so consumed, so unsettled internally that they can’t rest until they’ve created unrest externally.

And sometimes, those people aren’t strangers. Sometimes… they’re in charge.

🧨 Scene — The Headlines Don’t Lie

Look at the investigations unfolding right now — the targeted boat attacks in the Caribbean, the extremist chatter online, people stoking chaos with political or religious justification.

History teaches us this pattern:

When evil can’t sleep, it goes out looking for someone to keep awake with it. Someone to stumble. Someone to fall.

And that’s where this Proverb stops being theoretical for me.

💔 Conflict — My Father’s Stumble

Just days ago, I was talking with a very close conservative friend who was furious at who he called “the Seditious Six” — U.S. Senators subtly signaling to military officers not to follow unlawful orders.

He said, “This is the height of wrongdoing! Somebody needs to stand up.”

And I told him my story.

My father served in Vietnam. One day, his commanding officer ordered him to shoot and kill a young girl. A child.

He first refused and the officer reminded him That he was a soldier and he must follow orders Then the officer said:

“If you don’t shoot her, I’ll shoot you.”

So he followed the order… And it shattered him.

He had a complete mental breakdown. They had to put him in a steel cage to bring him home. Our entire family carried the aftershocks of that ‘stumble’ all of my life.

The officer who gave the order? He probably slept that night.

My dad could hardly sleep for the rest of his life.

That is what Proverbs means by “causing someone to stumble.” When people in power lose their conscience, someone innocent always pays the bill.

To make someone stumble, you have to dehumanize them first — turn them into a target, a category, a problem, something “less than.”

Evil doesn’t begin with the action. It begins with the imagination.

🌙 Deep Rest Is a Moral Choice

Where evil can’t sleep because of wicked imaginations, The Bible says God gives His beloved sleep.

Where evil compulsively reacts, Wisdom pauses.

Where evil rushes, The righteous benefit from some of the best spiritual advice anyone ever gave: They “Sleep on it.”

Because when you step back… Rest… Reset… You break the cycle. You stop harm from multiplying through you.

🌅 Resolution — You Don’t Have to Live Restless

If anger is keeping you awake… If revenge rehearsals are looping in your mind… If someone else’s chaos is shaping your spirit…

You don’t have to lose your soul to someone else’s unrest.

Remember: Before you make someone else stumble, let God help you still yourself.

🙏🏽Prayer

Quiet my unrest, Lord. Let Your peace guard my way.

🎯Today’s Challenge

Before reacting to anything today — news, a post, a person — pause. breathe. resist the impulse. Don’t respond until you’ve “slept on it.” Choose the path that lets your soul sleep tonight.

About the Author

Fred Lynch is a creative communicator, author, and Christian Hip Hop pioneer. To learn more about Fred and what he’s up to now…click here or you can find him in all the socials by searching the handle: heyfredlynch

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Be Wise and Be Well...peace.

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