What to do with Forks

Traffic ground to a halt, and I thought I could figure out the directions on my own. It was a hot day, my car’s AC was struggling, and I was ready to be home. I glanced at the GPS and did what I thought was best.

Have you ever come to a fork in the road and weighed your options only to choose the road that feels the best to you at the moment? It may not make logical or rational sense, but we figure out a way to justify our decision.

Why do we do that?

Why is our search for happiness often much stronger than our search for truth? Why are we much more likely to choose the “happy now” path instead of the “happy later” path?

How do we change this tendency to take a path that feels better now even though there is another path that will be much better the further we travel it?

Notice a few keys in today’s passage.

Trust in the Lord – When you encounter a fork in the road, instead of trusting your own knowledge, look to the one who created the path.

with all your heart – We hear this kind of thing all the time: “Follow your heart.” “The heart doesn’t lie.” Except it does, according to Jeremiah 17:9. Worse than dishonesty, the human heart is completely corrupt (Genesis 6:5, Ecclesiastes 9:3). We must make sure that we are using our heart to trust in the Lord, NOT to trust in our deepest desires.

Lean not on your own understanding – Sometimes, these two things (heart and understanding) are represented by our heart and our head. The heart is about our emotions and feelings while the head is about our logical, rational thoughts. For Solomon, who wrote Proverbs, they are both the same thing. What is true about the heart is also true about our own logic…neither can be trusted until they are submitted to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

In all your ways acknowledge the Lord – Acknowledging God is not merely giving a nod of awareness to His presence; it is an intimate knowledge of His person. Only a deep intimacy with God will help you avoid the wrong path.

God promises that when we draw near to Him, He will draw near to us. Keep reading, and why not ask a friend to read with you?