Proverbs are wisdom sayings. That means they are meant to not only be read/heard… but mulled over and meditated upon. Kind of like the saying my grandfather often used when he referred to someone in deep thought. They were “chewing the cud.” We are called to chew on God’s Word the way a cow might chew on a good lump of grass. Literally going over it and over it and over it until we’ve chewed it thoroughly and taken it in.
I enjoyed chewing on Proverbs 14:12 this morning (am I implying I’m a bovine to a certain degree?). This wisdom saying says the following: “There is a path before each person that seems right, but it ends in death” (NLT). A path is something that is definitive. It’s clearly seen and affords a person an opportunity to travel on it. A path follows its own course (in other words you’d be hardpressed to travel on two paths at the same time). A path also goes a certain/particular direction. So one path will bring a person one place and another path will lead that same person to another place. This saying says that all of us have paths before us. The issue at hand is DISCERNING what kind of path we are encountering. That’s the gist of it and it’s more difficult than it might seem.
One of the assumptions we often hear is that if the door opens (i.e. a path is before us) we have only to assume it’s there because of God and walk through it/on it. We rarely hear of people saying… this door is open to me (i.e. I could take this path before me) and it looks like I could have a good run of it if I took it… but in praying about it I’ve learned that although it appears good it’s not what God has or wants for me. The first is easy to jump headlong into… the second requires time, prayer, thoughtfulness… and in the words of Proverbs… WISDOM.
In other words, we are more apt to judge a path before us in terms of how it seems and rarely if what it seems to be may or may not actually end in something good (good as in Godly). I guess we have simply to stop and be reminded that before we don our hiking boots and gather up the walking stick in hand… we had better take a good hard second look, and, for that matter… a third, fourth, and fifth look to make sure that what seems right doesn’t end in death.
4-29-08
2:15PM
I did read your “blog”…so true, I am looking forward to attending my first service at your church. looks like a spirit filled, active and relevant for today church….can“t wait to attend
— debra · Apr 30, 01:24 PM · #
This made me think about the path that I am walking. I know that I need to turn to GOD and let him direct me down the correct path or change directions completely.
Thank you!!
— Tricia · May 2, 03:13 PM · #
I think one of our difficulties with turning to God is that we are no longer in charge of our own calendars. Time is the premium commodity of our culture and because we are so short on time we often have a difficult time (at least I do) with turning to God for His direction.
I am awed by the men and women of the Bible who turned to God… It took 40 years until Moses was called back to Egypt to help the people of God. Jesus didn’t start his public ministry till his late 20’s (the majority of one’s life would have already been lived at that point in his culture/day). Elizabeth’s prayer for a child wasn’t answered till she was already far advanced in life. With God, things often take time.
— Tim Farrell · May 5, 11:23 AM · #