Proverbs 4: 25-27 Let your eyes look straight ahead, fix your gaze directly before you. Make level paths for your feet and take only ways that are firm. Do not swerve to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil.
Our journey through our earthly life leads us to many kinds of paths from which we may choose to continue our trek. We may hike in the mountains on steep and craggy slopes. Or, we may saunter through the woods, shuffling through a bed of leaves recently released from the trees in the late days of autumn. A country lane provides a pathway which allows a pleasant walk while enjoying the freshness and beauty of God’s handiwork. In winter we might make our own path through a deep snow.
All of these paths lead to a destination. We make choices as to which path we will follow, or if we are going to make a path where none seems to exist. The Proverbs writer encourages us to look straight ahead and keep our eyes on the destination. We are urged to be sure of our footing as we journey. He warns that a detour to the right or to the left invites trouble because there, on the edges of the solid and sure path, we encounter evil.
Our path, for those of us who are in Jesus Christ, is well illuminated. In fact, it shines with His glory. We would think that one could never become lost if he is travelling on that bright, shining pathway. The contrast between the benefits of the clear view of the journey and the opportunity for wandering away is very evident in the Word. This is where our choices make all the difference. Do we remain in the light, progressing in our travel, enjoying the blessing of our Lord? Or, are we drawn away to the edges of the path where darkness, danger, and destruction loom just waiting to lure us away from the security of the pathway which leads to life, even eternal life.
In the photo above, a rather pleasant scene is presented. We see the beauty and glory of God’s creation. We see a pathway which leads somewhere. We also see a brick wall which separates the path from what is on the other side of the brick wall. If you were to peek over the top of that wall, you would discover a very large cemetery.
Now, all who die will be there in the cemetery in their appointed time. But death for those who faithfully follow the path stretched out before them by our Lord Jesus Christ will avoid the corruption resulting from a detour from the prescribed path to eternal life.
In the same Proverbs 4, the wise man says, "The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining ever brighter till the full light of day." Walking with the destination in view keeps us in the full light. It shines brighter and the walk gets sweeter the further we travel with Him.
----- Gary K Fair
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