The Shortest Distance

Reading for Today: Proverb Chapter 22

Gold Nugget
Verse 3: “A prudent man foresees evil and hides himself, but the simple pass on and are punished.”

Commentary
There is a town not too far from me (about 20 miles) that I go to frequently. Several years ago they blocked it off somewhere about halfway due to some bridge work. There are two other ways to this town and either one of them will add about 10 miles to the trip. I don’t want to drive 30 miles, I want the 20 miles! That being said, every once in a while I would try to see if I could get through. The problem was, every time I’d drive down that road I’d find it was still closed. At the very best, I’d have to drive back  at least 5 of those miles just to get back to the 30 mile trip with an additional 10 miles added to it for a grand total of total of 40 miles! As aggravating as that was, I’d still try it every once in a while hoping one day they would have fixed that bridge! I wanted a way to track their progress without wasting my time and my gas. I considered calling the county and asking them what the completion date was scheduled for, or maybe asking the foreman to call me on my cell phone when they open the road back up or maybe finding the closest neighbors to the bridge to call me when it finally opened up. All of these sound ridiculous. Can’t you just see me stopping the foreman and giving him my phone number requesting this special call? As crazy as that seems, any of those options would be prudent compared to the trial and error approach that I had used so far. It may seem that this whole ramble of mine is pointless, and it may well be, but I can’t help but be reminded of the same approach we take when traveling through this life. We have been down roads before that have never led anywhere and yet we keep traveling the same course, hoping that one day it will be open.

Without any reasonable resource to expect anything else, we head down the same path over and over again. We cause ourselves pain repeatedly. We waste our time and our fuel, only to find ourselves backtracking and making things longer and harder than they need to be. Today’s “gold nugget” teaches us that, “A prudent man foresees evil and hides himself, but the simple pass on and are punished.”  We could have said, “That route has cost me enough. I’m not going to go down that path again. I will take another route, instead of trying to pass through and be punished for it. I will take the path that is sure and proven." God has a sure path that is proven, but it may not be the shortest and most convenient. How many times will we make that trip before we quit driving blindly - hoping for the best?

Prayer
Lord, you have a way that is best for us. We have tried over and over to adjust this path to what we feel would be better. Help us to realize we have someone that knows where all the detours and roadblocks are. You are our great Navigator and Advisor. Help us to seek you for our path. Amen


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