A Traveling Truth

In college, I was dating a godly girl who joined me in working with teenagers at a small, country church in the middle of nowhere. On the weekend of her graduation from college, her parents flew into town and wanted to see what we were doing with these teenagers. Since smartphone GPS was not a thing yet, I wrote down directions so they could meet us there, and we anxiously awaited their arrival. As 6 PM approached, they had not yet arrived. We waited as long as we could, but eventually, we had to start. They finally arrived so late that they chose to wait in the lobby until we were done. It seems that somebody had written LEFT when he should have written RIGHT. They ended up back where they started before they realized my mistake.

This demonstrates what we are going to see throughout Proverbs: Your direction, not your intention, determines your destination.

Notice what Solomon wrote in Proverbs 4:10-19. He offers us two different paths and destinations:

Path 1 - The Path of the Wicked

• Bad for the traveler (v.16a)
• Bad for others around the travel (v.16b)
• Lots of pain (v.17), darkness, and stumbling around (v.19)

Path 2 - The Path of the Righteous

• Straight (v.11)
• A pleasant journey (v.12)
• Bright and getting brighter (v.18a)
• Lead somewhere you wanna be (v.18b)

Catch the metaphor Solomon uses to describe living your life - words like walking, running, traveling, and, perhaps most importantly, PATH. He is teaching me that the choices and decisions I make form a path for my life, and every path has a destination. Your path’s destination will not be determined by your desires, it will be determined by your direction.

Before you take your next step, pause and reflect on this question: In what direction am I headed…

• Spiritually
• Morally/ethically
• Relationally
• Financially
• Physically
• Vocationally
• Intellectually

Once you’ve considered these things, join me for step 2 along this path to wisdom!