Today I thought we might go back to the beginning and talk about the two paths. We live in a time when the language and behavior of people are challenging to anyone who even attempts to walk the way of Jesus. As many of the famous Christian dabblers have learned the hard way. The world will never congratulate you for choosing the way of Jesus. You will soon need to make a difficult choice. Try to follow the path of least resistance or follow Jesus.
The other day I read this passage from the book of Proverbs during my morning reading, and it brought this point home again to me. It is found in chapter 4 of Proverbs.
Do not enter the path of the wicked, and do not walk in the way of the evil. Avoid it; do not go on it; turn away from it and pass on. For they cannot sleep unless they have done wrong; they are robbed of sleep unless they have made someone stumble. For they eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence. But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until full day. The way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know over what they stumble. Proverbs 4:15-19 [ESV]
This passage is a good example of Hebrew poetic parallelism. Each idea is represented by two parallel phrases that either contrast or confirm each other. There is more to Hebrew poetry than that, but when you see this form, you can be sure you are looking at poetic language. This form of poetry is powerful because it lends itself to easy memorization, and since people were not running around with Bibles in their pockets when this was written, memorization was the only way to take this wisdom with you. These proverbs were made to be memorized. So let’s look carefully at this one.
The obvious message here is a warning to those who desire wisdom to refuse to follow the path of evil and wickedness. A closer look at the words used here is helpful. Evil is simply bad stuff, and wickedness speaks of the desire for badness. So the first warning has to do with refusing bad things and the desires that crave them. Our hearts are the source of our evil. We can try to blame other things or other people, but that trick is as old as Adam and Eve, and it has never worked.
These couplets go on to describe how wickedness (which is a desire to do evil things) is like food to them. It’s insatiable; they can’t sleep without it. They are drunk on violence and can’t sleep unless they bring someone else down with them. They aren’t content to be evil alone; they need to bring others along with them. Is this because they need the validation of others? Is it a power thing? Maybe its a profound narcissism or some kind of repressed destructive impulse that lashes out in all directions because of a fundamental unhappiness?
In the end it does not matter; it’s all badness. It is all evil. But those who wish to walk in wisdom must beware and avoid it at all costs.
Our world is not content to be evil; it is constantly trying to drag us into their madness for evil. It’s frightening to think about how many things we simply accept because they’re common. Common does not equal correct, and it very certainly does not equal wisdom.
The path of righteousness, however, is like the light of dawn that gets brighter and brighter throughout the day. We are not chasing the darkness; we are progressively living in an ever-brightening light. This is such an extreme contrast that we don’t want to miss its urgency. We buy the world’s lies little by little until we find ourselves in a place we did not expect and are not sure exactly how we got here. The path of Jesus is a path with a future; it is a path into the light. So I want to finish today with some encouraging advice from Paul. Our problems may be modern, but they are not new, so Paul’s advice hits just as hard today as it did when he wrote it.
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.
Philippians 4:4–9 (ESV)
Have a great week!
