Proverbs 14 - 15

The Way
Chapter 14
7. Stay away from fools, for you won't find knowledge on their lips.
12. There is a path before each person that seems right, but it ends in death.
15. Only simpletons believe everything they are told! The prudent carefully consider their steps.
29. People with understanding control their anger; a hot temper shows great foolishness.
34. Godliness makes a nation great, but sin is a disgrace to any people.

Chapter 15
11. Even Death and Destruction hold no secrets from the Lord. How much more does he know the human heart!
16. Better to have little, with the fear of the Lord, than to have great treasure and inner turmoil.
28. The heart of the godly thinks carefully before speaking; the mouth of the wicked overflows with evil words.
32. If you reject discipline, you only harm yourself; but if you listen to correction,  you grow in understanding.

"There is a path before each person that seems right, but it ends in death." (14:12).  The KJV reads, "There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death."

There is a way.  A "way" is a path, a road, a trail along which we can travel from where we are to somewhere else. In life we have many ways.  We have the way to work, the way back home. The way to friends, to places of business, to meetings, to church.  We have the way to walk around the neighborhood.  We have metaphorical "ways", to happiness, to wealth and prosperity, to spiritual enlightenment, to God.

Most of the ways we travel have been defined for us by others.  Even when we do not know the way we can consult a map or use a GPS system to tell us the way. Some ways are faster, some ways are more scenic, some ways riskier, some ways require a car, others ways can only be trod by foot, and still yet other ways require a bicycle, a boat, and airplane or some other specific mode of transportation.  Yet in all cases, the way takes us from where we are to somewhere else.

Sometimes the way, the journey, is more important than the destination.  Other times the way is just one more impediment, one more expenditure of time and effort to reach the destination. Some ways are long and time consuming, other ways are quick, and still yet other ways are a great joy, a real pleasure. Still, we come back to the idea of a way - to get from where we are to somewhere else.

The simple fact is most ways we travel are mundane - mere requirements in life, part of the rhythm, the beat, the day-in, day-out, weekly, monthly, yearly travels we all have accepted and incorporated into our routines. We go to work. We come back home. We go to eat, we go to shop, we go to church, we come back home. We go our "ways."

As we mature and grow into our place in our families, communities, economies, and networks, we realize there are other ways, much more important ways, much more demanding ways that require our time and attention that are beyond the mundane ways of life.  We have to determine the way to knowledge we will choose - formal education? technical training? trades and skill? on-the-job? Many of us will use a combination of these ways.  Some will spend their entire life in the pursuit of knowledge, many will reach a level of satisfaction with their knowledge, and sadly, many will choose to remain ignorant.

We will find our way to prosperity.  Again, the level depends on the way we choose. Some will choose wealth to the exclusion of everything else, others will be happy in poverty, the majority of Americans will find a balance between wealth and happiness and then take extreme measures to maintain the status-quo.

This scripture, Proverbs 14:12, while applicable to the physical ways, and the ways to happiness, wealth, and knowledge, is primarily focusing on the ways to spiritual growth and a relationship with God.  "There is a way that seems right..."  In our folly and our dismissal of God and our desire to be independent and responsible for our own way, we seek that which "seems right" but whose end is "the ways of death."  While we may think that because we can find the way from home to work, or Tucson to Tacoma, or from rags to riches, or first grade to PhD, we can also find and make our way to God. But, we are sadly mistaken.  This is a way that we cannot make.  Every attempt to make this way ends in death!

"I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." (John 14:6).  This is the only way to God and ties in perfectly with Proverbs 14:12.  The end of this way is eternal life. It is a way that Jesus made and it is a perfect way, completely risk free, completely cost free, and completely right. It not only seems right, it is right!  Notice that Jesus is first - the way, then the truth, and the life.  First we must take His way.  Once we are on His way, then we learn His truth and are filled with His life.

Lord, let me take the way that You have provided!

May God bless you and bless the reading of His Word.