Your Direction Determines Your Destination Series

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.