Proverbs 24:21 - Meaning and Application

Note, religion and loyalty must go together. As people, it is our duty to honor our Creator, worship and respect him, and live in his fear. As members of society, made to help one another, it is our duty to be faithful and dutiful to the government God has placed over us (Romans 13:1-2). Those who are truly religious will also be loyal, out of conscience toward God. The godly people in a land will be the quiet, peaceful people in it. Those who are not truly loyal, or stay loyal only while it benefits them, are not truly religious. How can a man be true to his prince if he is false to his God? And when the two duties conflict, the matter is settled: we must obey God rather than men.

Innovations in both matters are to be feared. The verse does not say, “Have nothing to do with those who change,” because there may be reason to change for the better. It says, have nothing to do with those who are given to change, who love change for its own sake, out of a sour dislike for what is and a craving for novelty, or a wish to gain from disorder. Do not meddle with those who are always changing either in religion or in civil government. Do not join their private schemes, their secret plots, or their hidden wickedness.

People with a restless, divisive, and troubled spirit usually bring ruin on themselves before they know it. Their trouble will rise suddenly. Even if they carry out their plans with great secrecy, they will be found out and receive the punishment they deserve when they least expect it. Who knows the time and manner of the downfall that both God and the king will bring on those who despise them, and on those who join themselves to such people?