Directions

Whoever walks in uprightness fears the LORD, but he who is devious in his ways despises him. By the mouth of a fool comes a rod for his back, but the lips of the wise will preserve them. Where there are no oxen, the manger is clean, but abundant crops come by the strength of the ox. A faithful witness does not lie, but a false witness breathes out lies. A scoffer seeks wisdom in vain, but knowledge is easy for a man of understanding. Leave the presence of a fool, for there you do not meet words of knowledge. The wisdom of the prudent is to discern his way, but the folly of fools is deceiving. Fools mock at the guilt offering, but the upright enjoy acceptance. The heart knows its own bitterness, and no stranger shares its joy. The house of the wicked will be destroyed, but the tent of the upright will flourish. There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death. (Proverbs 14:2-12 ESV). I am directionally challenged! That is to say I am easily lost. Some years ago I remember being given directions to a particular place in downtown Ft. Worth. I was emailed the directions the first time by simply saying it was in the same building that I had attended another function the previous year. Unfortunately I couldn’t remember exactly where that was located! I suppose I could have faked it and not written back to ask for more specific directions, but I would have gotten lost and been late to the meeting. I fear being late much more than I fear looking “unmanly” and asking for directions! Everyone knows that men are supposed to know how to get anywhere without having to ask for directions! Yeah, right! I have been lost so many times I can’t count them. It is always the joke in our house that I drive and Mary navigates. Thank goodness she has a good sense of direction! After reading our verses this morning, it occurred to me that many people must be directionally challenged spiritually also. Since it is in the nature of each of us to follow our own opinion, we are all susceptible to going the wrong way, to set out in our own direction, in a way that seems right to us. But God can see the end. And while we may think that we are so young the end will never come, or we are so smart we can change the rules in the end, or we are so special the end will not apply to us, God still sees the end. And He wants more than anything to keep us from that end. "Are you headed out in your own direction today? How does it look? Does is seem OK? Does it seem right? Or perhaps you're starting to realize that it is time to ask for directions. In the spiritual realm it is not a matter of being late. If you take the wrong way, you will never get there! In fact, you will get death instead of life. There is only one way that is the right way, and that is through faith in Jesus Christ. Follow Him and you will never be on the wrong road!