Making A Course Correction Series

Making a Course Correction

The Path Series-

CCCAG October 10, 2021

Scripture-Proverbs 27:12

Last week we started a new series called, “The Path,”

It’s a study taken from the book of Proverbs.

In it, we established an unbreakable principle in the universe that if you try to break this principle, it will break you.

It’s the principle which says Your direction determines your destination.

Last week we even went a little further and said it really doesn’t matter what you hoped would happen for you, or what you wanted to have happen to you—Your direction, not your intention, determines your destination.

It doesn’t matter if you intend on going to La Crosse-

it doesn’t matter if you think about doing it,

want to do it,

and desire to do it-

if you get on Hwy 53 going north, you will eventually end up in Eau Claire and if you don’t turn around, you’ll eventually end up in Superior.

The principle isn’t rocket science;

We all know this when it comes to geography, but for some reason, when it comes to other areas of life,

like relationships,

finances,

eating habits,

exercise, and developing skills that make us more competent and valuable, we often walk one way and hope to wind up somewhere in the other direction.

But again, it’s Your direction, not your intention, not your hopes, not your dreams, determines your destination.

For almost 20 years, I had an interest in going to college to be an RN.

I had every intention of doing it someday, knowing that the day will come when I physically couldn’t do the job of paramedic anymore.

Before I moved up here, I’d walk out of the station some mornings after running 24 to 27 hours straight and say, “I can’t keep doing this- I need to go back to school for my RN”

Yet 2 days later, I’d be walking back into the station for another 24+ hrs of fun.

That interest and intention didn’t get me many closer to what I knew would become necessary the older I got.

However, 3 years ago, I made the decision and drove to Marshfield, signed up for classes, and even crammed to take my entrance exam and started the process.

My dreams, my goals, my intentions finally got pointed in the right direction so I moved toward the destination I wanted.

This is the hinge on which everything we’re going to learn today swings on.

Now turn to Proverbs 1:2

Solomon wrote most of the Proverbs. He tells us that the reason Proverbs was written,

2 for attaining wisdom and discipline;

for understanding words of insight;

3 for acquiring a disciplined and prudent life,

doing what is right and just and fair;

4 for giving prudence to the simple,

knowledge and discretion to the young-

Sounds like a great thing doesn’t it?

In the Christian church, we believe that God supernaturally moved in the hearts and minds of the about 40 different people who had a part in writing the book we call the bible.

In this section, which is known as the Prologue to the book of Proverbs, a word appears twice that we don’t use very often. But it’s a great word, because if you can master the skill it implies, your life will work much better.

See if you can find the word that appears twice, though in two slightly different forms.

3 for acquiring a disciplined and prudent life,

doing what is right and just and fair;

4 for giving prudence to the simple,

knowledge and discretion to the young-

The word is “Prudent” or it’s adjectival form, “prudence.”

The word Prudent means three things =

Knowing what to do.

Exercising good judgment.

Having common sense.

In the 21st century, we don’t use this word very much, but the book of Proverbs uses it a lot. In fact, Solomon compares and contrasts prudent people with a second kind of people, “simple people.”

Whatever you are, you don’t want to be a simple person.

Other translations can use the words wise and foolish to compare and contrast these same people.

Who here wants to be a fool?

Later in Proverbs, Solomon says,

Flog a mocker, and the simple will learn prudence;

rebuke a discerning man, and he will gain knowledge (Proverbs 19:25).

In other words, some people learn by verbal instruction: A friend points out something they’re doing wrong, and they learn from it. Other people, “simple people,” have to be whipped or beaten or have something bad happen to them to learn a lesson.

There is a Youtube video out there of a guy that packed an old riding lawnmower with Tannerite. If you don’t know what Tannerite is- you can buy it down at Holton’s and it has about the same explosive power as dynamite. This guy packed a lawnmower full of it, and decided to shoot it from about 25 yards away.