Your Direction Determines Destination
The Path Series
CCCAG October 3, 2021
Scripture- Proverbs 7:7-27
We’re starting a new series called, “The Path.”
It’s a study on the book of Proverbs.
Why proverbs?
To explain why I chose to do a quick series on the book of Proverbs, let me tell you some stories that have happened within the last week at various ERS across our nation.
A younger woman shows up to the ER with chest pain after she nebulizes hydrogen peroxide because she read on the Internet that it kills viruses. Terrified of COVID but refuses the vaccine because she is afraid of the side effects.
Another person suffers severe burns after taking the ice in a fry basket challenge. If you don't know what that is that is taking ice from the ice machine at the restaurant you work at filling a fry basket full of that ice and throwing it in the fryer to see what happens.
In case you don't know what happens the fryer explodes and throws boiling hot oil over everyone around.
Recently another person is killed when taking the “Frogger Challenge” which involves running across an 8-lane interstate during heavy traffic. He made it three lanes before a semi struck him going 45 miles an hour.
Every person in every example I gave you had one thing in common-
They all lacked wisdom.
Wisdom is seriously lacking in our culture today, and is reflected in the actions of many in our society.
Proverbs is a book of wisdom. I often define wisdom as learning from other people’s mistakes, so you don’t do them yourself.
It’s why many of the people that the bible recorded had major failures- so we could read about them and avoid them ourselves.
We can see how a wrong decision lead them down a wrong path, and where that path ended up for them.
Today, many are on the wrong path because they lack the one thing they need to choose correctly, and that is wisdom.
Let me open us in prayer
Prayer
In Proverbs 1 the first few verses are known as the “Prologue” to the book of Proverbs. It introduces the subject at hand.
It explains it’s purpose, and we will take a brief look at this this morning.
In ancient Israel, there were three groups of people who communicated on behalf of God.
1. The Priests – They gave The Law.
2. The Prophets – They gave direction and correction by supernatural revelation from God
3. The Sages – they gave counsel or wisdom
The books of Proverbs and its surrounding books—Job, Psalms, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon—are books by the sages. Scholars called these books “Wisdom Literature.”
When we talk about wisdom, that is NOT the same as being educated or even intelligent. You could have a thousand Ph.D.’s and still be what the bible calls a fool who lacks wisdom.
Having intelligence or education means you know things. Having wisdom means you know what to do in various situations. So you can be smart without being wise. Wisdom literature was written to make us wise – to help us know what to do in specific situations.
The book of Proverbs was written primarily by King Solomon- one of the wisest men who ever lived. The Bible says of Solomon:
He spoke three thousand proverbs and his songs numbered a thousand and five. He also spoke about animals and birds, reptiles and fish. From all nations people came to listen to Solomon’s wisdom, sent by all the kings of the world, who had heard of his wisdom.
1 Kings 4:32-34
In today’s society, he’d be the guy with a dozen Ph.D.’s from every Ivy League university in the world. He wrote most of the book, except for the last couple of chapters who were written by another very wise king named Agur.
That’s the background of the book of Proverbs.
Flip forward a few pages in your Bible to Proverbs 7.
Here is one of the main truths about this series that I want you to understand-
The road you’re on determines where you’ll end up. (repeat)
That’s true, isn’t it?
If I head north on 53, I will end up in Pigeon Falls. (more directions)
Whatever road, whatever highway, whatever path I’m on will determine where I end up.
I can want to end up somewhere else.
I can pack my beach towel, my sunscreen, and my Spanish dictionary with every hope that I can spend a week in Cancun Mexico but if I head north instead of south, I’ll end up in Eau Claire, and not in Cancun.
So here’s The Principle of the Path: Your direction, not your intention, determines your destination.
As obvious as that is in the world of geography, when it comes to the rest of our lives, whether it be our family life, our financial life, our marriage or dating life, the way we raise our kids, our physical fitness, or our professional life, this same principle applies. In every area of life, my direction, not my intention, determines my destination.
Yet how many times have you been in a conversation with someone who is describing how their life got trashed, or their marriage blew up, or their kids grew up rebellious or resentful?
How many times have you talked to students who didn’t get the grades they were hoping only to discover they spent their weekends partying?
As they’re describing what led up to their failure, you just thought to yourself, “Well, didn’t you see that coming?”
Let’s take this principle one space further. It is so much a part of life on planet earth that it trumps, or overcomes almost everything else that you’ve got going for you.
You can have the best of intentions and end up in the worst of situations.
It doesn’t matter who you are or what you are in life- this rule applies.
When it comes to life, it’s your direction—not your intentions, not your strengths, not your weaknesses, not your hopes, not your dreams— your direction will determine your destination. The path you take will determine where you end up.
It’s the law of sowing and reaping
Let me show you this from what Solomon showed his audience 3,000 years ago. In Proverbs 7:6, Solomon is going to tell us a story. We don’t know whether it’s a true story or one he made up to demonstrate this principle. As he tells the story, he’s standing at a window, looking down at the street below him.
6 At the window of my house
I looked out through the lattice.
7 I saw among the simple,
I noticed among the young men,
a youth who lacked judgment.
8 He was going down the street near her corner,
walking along in the direction of her house
9 at twilight, as the day was fading,
as the dark of night set in.
You don't have to be a Bible scholar to anticipate where this story is heading, do you? A young guy cruising the streets at sunset, heading in the direction of a specific woman's home.
As we will see in a second,
• he knew who this woman was,
• he knew she was married.
• he knew that her husband was out of town and that she would be to put it delicately, looking for companionship
Meanwhile, back at the window, Solomon was watching this young man.
Solomon knew there was a marked contrast between what this kid was expecting to experience and what Solomon knew was in his future.
Why?
Because the older, wiser man understood from experience where this path would lead. It’s one he himself had walked more times than he could count.
This young man was preoccupied with what he believed would be an exciting event—a night of passion. A night disconnected from every other event in his life.
But Solomon knew better.
This night was not an isolated event disconnected from all the other events in this young man's life.
This night was a first step down a path.
A path, like all paths, that leads somewhere.
This particular path had a predictable destination.
The story continues:
Then out came a woman to meet him, dressed like a prostitute and with crafty intent. (She is loud and defiant, her feet never stay at home; now in the street, now in the squares, at every corner she lurks.) (vv. 10-12).
She took hold of him and kissed him and with a brazen face she said: "I have fellowship offerings at home; today I fulfilled my vows. So I came out to meet you; I looked for you and I have found you!" (vv. 13-15).
When this woman said she had fellowship offerings at home, she was essentially saying, "Look, I’m not after your money—I want you!"
She was also implying that she had been to the temple and had everything squared away with God. Having already taken her sin-bucket and dumped it out at the altar, she was ready to fill it up again…with him!
The woman continues:
"I have covered my bed with colored linens from Egypt. I have perfumed my body with myrrh, aloes and cinnamon. Come, let's drink deep of love till morning; let's enjoy ourselves with love!" (vv. 16-18).
"My husband is not at home; he has gone on a long journey. He took his purse filled with money and will not be home till full moon" (vv. 19-20).
Well, that pretty much clinched it right there.
This just kept getting better—from his perspective, that is. But Solomon saw this situation in an entirely different light- through the prism of wisdom
Listen to his take.
With persuasive words she led him astray; she seduced him with her smooth talk. All at once he followed her like an ox going to the slaughter (vv. 21-22).
... like a deer stepping into a noose till an arrow pierces his liver, like a bird darting into a snare, little knowing it will cost him his life (vv. 22-23).
Back when the DNR would let us, it was common to put a salt lick or some type of bait right outside of our blinds or tree stands. The deer would never look up but be so concentrated on what was right in front of them that they never hear the bow snap before the arrow pierces their body.
Here is where this young man is in the story.
Satan in the tree stand about ready to take his prize buck home and mount his head on the wall.
At this point in Solomon’s narrative, he turned a corner and addressed his broader audience. These next words are directed to you and me.
Now then, my sons, listen to me; pay attention to what I say. Do not let your heart turn to her ways or stray into her paths (vv. 24-25).
There’s our word. Paths. This was a path, not just an event.
This was a road chosen to travel down.
Pay attention to this next observation:
Many are the victims she has brought down; her slain are a mighty throng (v. 26).
Not, “a few.” Many.
Solomon debunked the notion that there was anything unique about what this kid was experiencing. It may have been unique for him, but this experience represents a well-worn path: a path that leads to death.
Driving home the point, Solomon added:
Her house is a highway to the grave, leading down to the chambers of death (v. 27).
A highway? Yep.
A five-lane freeway and he is in the express lane. There's nothing new about this.
The disconnect in Solomon's scenario is easy to see, at least for us.
A young man who wanted his life to be relationally richer chose a path that would ultimately undermine his relationships.
A young man who yearned for something good chose a path that led to something not good.
A youth striving to prove his independence chose a well-worn path that had the potential to strip him of his independence.
There was a disconnect. Solomon saw it from his window.
All of us have seen or even experienced these kinds of disconnects in our own lives.
Let’s take our eyes of the 5th century BC for a moment and come back to us here in 2021.
We all have a propensity for choosing paths that lead us where we do not want to go.
In a few weeks, we will talk more about what causes this apparent lapse in reason. But for now, I want to focus on how this dynamic plays itself out in our world.
For example:
• A single woman says, "I want to meet and one day marry a great Christian guy who's really got his act together" ... but then she dates whoever asks her out, as long as he's cute.
• A single guy says, "I want a great sex life once I'm married" ... so he "practices" with every girl he dates along the way.
• A married woman says, "I want to have a great relationship with my husband" ... but she makes the children a priority over him.
• A husband says, "I want my kids to respect me as they grow up" ... and then he openly flirts with other women in front of them.
• A young Christian says, "I want to develop a deep and lasting intimacy with God" ... so he gets up every morning and plays his favorite video game
• A working man says, "I want to grow old and invest the latter years of my life in my grandchildren" ... but then he neglects his health.
• A couple says, "We'd like our children to develop a personal relationship with God and choose friends who have done the same" ... but then they skip church every weekend and head to the beach, or sleep in and watch football.
The list could go on and on. And the people my list represents have legitimate goals and oftentimes every good intention of reaching them. But like the naïve young man in Solomon's story, the paths they choose eventually bring them to a destination that is entirely different from the one they intended.
And this isn't rocket science. We shouldn’t need someone to connect these dots for us. If your goal is to drop two dress sizes, you don't eat lunch at a donut shop.
If you desire to remain faithful to your spouse, you don't linger in an online chat room with members of the opposite sex. Those aren't pastimes. Those are pathways. They lead somewhere.
In computer lingo- garbage in, garbage out. If you mess up the programming, you get a broken system.
If you mess up and chose the wrong road, don’t be surprised where you end up.
Here is the problem though- it is much easier to see these dynamics at work in other people than it is in ourselves.
In fact, right now you’re probably thinking about several people who you wish had been here today and heard what we’re talking about. But before you start putting names to the faces in your mind, take a minute to think about your life and let me ask you this:
• Are there disconnects in your life?
• Are there discrepancies between what you desire in your heart and what you are doing with your life?
• Is there alignment between your intentions and your direction?
If you've ever gotten lost while driving you know that if you backtrack far enough, you can usually get your bearings and be on your way. Worst case, you've wasted a few minutes or hours.
But when you get lost in life, you can't backtrack.
Like the old song says, “Time keeps on slipping, slipping, slipping into the future”.
We never stop to think that time is the most valuable commodity we own. Because once that second hand has move on the clock, we never, ever get it back. There is no reset, there is no redeeming that moment.
When you get lost in life, you don't waste minutes or hours.
You can waste an entire season of your life. Years….even decades
Nobody wants that. Nobody wants to wake up in his 50-60’s and wish he had taken a different path in his thirties.
Nobody wants to arrive at the end of a marriage and wish they had taken a different path during her dating years.
The path we choose at those critical junctions doesn’t just determine our destination the following year, but for the following season of life.
The principle of the path is operating in your life every minute of every day.
You are currently on a financial path of some kind.
You are on a relational path.
You are continuing down a moral path, an ethical path, an entertainment path.
And each of these paths has a destination.
That’s why God says your life and its destination isn’t about the immediate, it’s about the ultimate.
If God isn’t the destination- you are on the wrong road! Repeat
This leads to two questions I want to ask you:
1. What direction or path are you on today?
- Morally
- Relationally (with your family, with friendships)
- Financially
These are the biggies. We could probe into many more areas. I can’t answer these for you. Only you can.
2. How do you learn to choose the right path?
For that, I want to give you an answer
1. Get wisdom. That’s what we’re going to be doing for the next several weeks. Getting wisdom from Solomon and wisdom from the book of Proverbs.
Reading Proverbs will increase your wisdom-quotient. There are 31 chapters in the book of Proverbs. Read one chapter a day for the next 31 days.
2. Make choices based on the long-term, not the ¬short-term.
See your life the way God sees your life by thinking about it like a path, a series of steps, not a bunch of unrelated events.
- Think about what will happen
- if you eat that brownie every day. What’s the next step after you eat the brownie once- you eat the next one
- Not balancing your checkbook
- Being nice to your spouse
All Rise
Every decision we make is a new fork in the road.
Every decision we make takes you down a new path.
Lord, help me to choose the right path.
