Character is what you are because of your choices, those choices of right and wrong that make you a man, or something less.”
–B.N. Rundell (The Trail to Retaliation)
“There is a path before each person that seems right, but it ends in death.”
–Proverbs 14:12 (NLT)
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Do not be deceived–there is a way of evil. We must have God’s word hidden in our hearts to know the right way. Godly wisdom is there to aid us along the proper pathway. Bob Beasley states, “God’s practical wisdom seated in our hearts by study, meditation, and memorization keeps us from trouble.” It keeps us from straying.
2.12 — To deliver you from the way of evil, from the man who speaks perverse things,
.13 — From those who leave the paths of uprightness to walk in the ways of darkness;
.14 — Who rejoice in doing evil, and delight in the perversity of the wicked;
.15 — Whose ways are crooked, and who are devious in their paths. (NKJV)
2.12 — Wisdom will save you from the ways of wicked men, from men whose words are perverse,
.13 — who leave the straight paths to walk in dark ways,
.14 — who delight in doing wrong and rejoice in the perverseness of evil,
.15 — whose paths are crooked and who are devious in their ways. (NIV, 1973)
There are people waiting, lurking to attack, devour and destroy anyone coming their way. They look for the weak, the unaware, the unstable. Cults will look at obituaries in the newspapers or go to divorce courts to find the vulnerable, those who are depressed and downcast. They go to skid row to find the wino, the drunk, the disabled. There are those, like the “jumping cholla” that wait for you to pass and will jump out and cling to you.
Call them evil, wicked, perverse, ungodly, unrighteous, they all have the same purpose–to get others to go down to the pit with them. Misery loves company, so does sin. The progress of the wicked and evil is always downhill, eventually arriving at the Pit. Their talk may sound sweet, but it spread about moral disease and death. They are the opposite of the person that Paul writes about, “Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy–meditate on these things.” (Philippians 4:8, NKJV)
Lovers of darkness, and I do not understand why. Walk in the dark, bump into something, stub your toe, there is always something to run into. There are people who willingly and purposely left the way of truth to walk in darkness–the reason, because their deeds are evil, their heart is dark and cold. Jude and John warn us in their epistles about these men whose purpose is to deceive. John, in his gospel, tells us, “And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.” (3:19-20, NKJV) The light keeps us from stumbling; it keeps us safe. The ways of darkness are of “concealment, evasion, cunning, deceit. He who walks in them is ever groping.” (Wardlaw)
William Arnot says, “The doing of evil produces darkness, and darkness produces the evil doing. Indulged lusts puts out the eye-sight of the conscience; and under the darkened conscience the lusts revel unchecked.” The wicked rejoice, i.e., “Happy Hour”, but their happiness is short lived. Paul writes, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness.” (Romans 1:18, NKJV) These people are perverse, (Romans 1:27-32). Woe unto those who follow the perverse, who walk in the pathway of evil and wickedness. John tells us that “the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.” (1:5, NKJV)
Listen, my son, my daughter, to wisdom. Let it be your guide in this journey of life. Let the light shine and keep you on the right path. Do not turn to the right or the left, but listen to the words of wisdom.