For a while now the simplicity of the Proverbs has beckoned me. If I’m being honest I’m regularly in a place where my mind is taxed due to a constant influx of duties, appointments and opportunities. In my weaker moments I’m tempted to put off the most important things like committed, secluded morning prayer or personal Bible study. I sometimes let the infamous tyranny of the urgent dictate my course of action and it leads to work, work and more work. This morning the temptation to do so was stronger than normal so I cleared my desk and leaped into the Proverbs. I didn’t get far before God whispered, ‘Slow down, son, I have something I want to tell you’.
“Who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness.” – Proverbs 2:13
“That you may walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the righteous.” – Proverbs 2:20
The two Proverbs from chapter two that I listed above served to remind me of my potential for today. There stands before me a choice for my course of life during the next twenty-four hours. I’m being questioned by my conscience concerning how I will walk today. By the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ I have been chosen for the “paths of uprightness”; these paths are filled with wisdom and understanding, joy and companionship with God, grace and comfort from Jesus Christ. It cost a King His very life for me to ever have the potential of placing one foot in front of another on this path. He chose me, pursued me, wrestled me off my former path of death and, once He broke me, He then carried me in sovereign arms and placed me on the paths of righteousness. He tells me that He’ll walk daily there with me and that I will find the abundance of life when I meet Him there. I love these paths upon which I follow Him.
There is, however, another path. This path has the ability to tantalize me at my moment of vulnerability. When I’ve not been in the Book, when my times of meeting alone with God have become duty more so than delight, and when I feel confident and capable that I can walk on the paths of righteousness on my own – it is then that the other path deceives me. Solomon called this path “the ways of darkness”. It need not be heinously evil to qualify as darkness; all that is required to result in darkness is the absence of the Light. This path tempts me to make decisions independently from the Lordship of Christ. On this path there are incessant whispers that urge me to take care of myself, meet my own felt needs, view others as being for me rather than myself being for them. This path is illuminated by unnatural light – the bold and beckoning neon of empty promises from the world’s system. This way of darkness tells me that, if I’ll walk a while thereupon, my eyes will adjust and I’ll learn to run fast and enjoy some thrills that Jesus denies me when I’m following Him on the paths of righteousness. A counterfeit freedom is being offered me and I’ll bite the hook if I’m not careful. There are immediate gratifications on this darkened way. Some old voice that I rarely hear (but always recognize) tries to glamorize this pathway, telling me that it’s high time that I reward myself. If I won’t walk on it regularly, can’t I just take a short stroll for a little relief from the constant call to discipline which is much more demanding of my soul? Jeff, is it really altogether bad to “leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness” when you know that His grace abounds toward you? What a seduction of the soul is being attempted at moments like this!
It is here that the Holy Spirit of God quickens my mind with His Word when He reminds me, “O my people, what have I done unto thee? And wherein have I wearied thee? {Micah 6:3}. What weakness must there be in us to consider that our way might provide something better than God’s way? Yet, every time you and I numb our souls to sin – any sin! – we are saying loudly that the ways of darkness provides something we need which the paths of uprightness cannot. May God grant us the constant convincing that we have found our sufficiency in God Himself (2 Cor. 3:5). God forbid us to forget that “in Thy presence is fullness of joy; at Thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16:11) May we prepare our heart so that it prepares our feet to turn from the incessant baiting that the dark ways offer us. There are only two paths for today. Every word, thought and action is a choice of a way. Jesus will only walk on one of those paths. We will walk with Him or without Him.
May we choose wisely.
I refuse to begin the demands of the day til I have read from God. Today I am late for those demands cause my dog won’t study along with me!
I am so glad for my Brother who admits to the same temptation of duties before Duty…and who chose Duty today. And you are so right…darkness doesn’t have to appear depraved. It is equally dark…the consequences are just not as immediately apparent. I am reminded of C.S. Lewis..”get him to notice the spot on his tie.”
Very good…very good indeed!