Reading for Today:
Proverb Chapter 22
Gold Nugget
Verse 3: “A prudent man foresees evil and hides
himself, but the simple pass on and are punished.”
Commentary
There is a town not too far from me (about 20 miles) that
I go to frequently. Several years ago they blocked it off somewhere about
halfway due to some bridge work. There are two other ways to this town and
either one of them will add about 10 miles to the trip. I don’t want to drive
30 miles, I want the 20 miles! That being said, every once in a while I would
try to see if I could get through. The problem was, every time I’d drive down
that road I’d find it was still closed. At the very best, I’d have to drive
back at least 5 of those miles just to
get back to the 30 mile trip with an additional 10 miles added to it for a
grand total of total of 40 miles! As aggravating as that was, I’d still try it
every once in a while hoping one day they would have fixed that bridge! I
wanted a way to track their progress without wasting my time and my gas. I
considered calling the county and asking them what the completion date was
scheduled for, or maybe asking the foreman to call me on my cell phone when
they open the road back up or maybe finding the closest neighbors to the bridge
to call me when it finally opened up. All of these sound ridiculous. Can’t you
just see me stopping the foreman and giving him my phone number requesting this
special call? As crazy as that seems, any of those options would be prudent
compared to the trial and error approach that I had used so far. It may seem
that this whole ramble of mine is pointless, and it may well be, but I can’t
help but be reminded of the same approach we take when traveling through this
life. We have been down roads before that have never led anywhere and yet we
keep traveling the same course, hoping that one day it will be open.
Without
any reasonable resource to expect anything else, we head down the same path
over and over again. We cause ourselves pain repeatedly. We waste our time and
our fuel, only to find ourselves backtracking and making things longer and
harder than they need to be. Today’s “gold nugget” teaches us that, “A prudent man foresees evil and hides
himself, but the simple pass on and are punished.” We could have said, “That route has cost me
enough. I’m not going to go down that path again. I will take another route,
instead of trying to pass through and be punished for it. I will take the path
that is sure and proven." God has a sure path that is proven, but it may
not be the shortest and most convenient. How many times will we make that trip
before we quit driving blindly - hoping for the best?
Prayer
Lord, you have a
way that is best for us. We have tried over and over to adjust this path to
what we feel would be better. Help us to realize we have someone that knows
where all the detours and roadblocks are. You are our great Navigator and
Advisor. Help us to seek you for our path. Amen
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