A Man's Ways...and a Woman's Too

For several reasons, Proverbs 16 is my favorite chapter in the book of wisdom. I've read it too many times to count, and maybe these patterns have jumped out at me before, but I took special notice of them today. Those particular proverbs are primarily concerned with how a person makes their way through life. What governs their plans, their intentions, their dreams? What guides their steps? The answer to that question makes all the difference in the world.

All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes,

but the Lord weighs the spirits. (v. 2)

I can justify anything I want to do. And anyone who has ever wanted to do something they knew they weren't supposed to, or even something that was questionable, knows what I'm talking about. Faced with decisions everyday, thinking through the nuances of each choice, we can usually reason ourselves into doing whatever we want to do. Whatever pleases us. Whatever makes us happy. Whatever satisfies our immediate need. Whatever seems right at the time (I'll come back to that thought). And once we've made our choice, we can usually look back on it and justify it...or excuse it. But we must remember that it is the Lord who weighs the spirits; it is the Lord who truly knows whether what we did was right or wrong in His eyes. And His eyes are the only eyes that count. We can justify our actions, but are our motives pure?

When a man's ways please the Lord,

He makes even his enemies be at peace with him (v. 7)

We all want to live in peace. We want to live in a world where everyone likes us, even loves us, where nobody hates us, where all people are happy with us all the time. Unfortunately, we often think that they key to peaceful living is pleasing people. That if we do the right thing where everyone is concerned, then everyone will be okay with us. And I could quote many an old adage here: for example, you can please some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can't please all the people all the time. At any given moment in my life (especially my life as a pastor), there is almost always someone at odds with me, someone who didn't agree with my last sermon or my last decision. And I could expend all of my energies on efforts to make every last one of them happy, or I could simply choose the easy way and make God happy. Because when God is pleased with me, I will have peace.

A man's heart plans his way,

but the Lord directs his steps. (v. 9)

I could probably get into deep theological water with this one, but I've been in over my head before. People plan and plot and scheme and dream, and they make decisions based on the belief that each person determines their own destiny, that each person makes their own luck, that the fate of one's life is in one's hands. And yet the Bible declares that there is a Sovereign God who sees all, knows all, and is in control of all things. So I can either blunder along, blindly frustrated because things never go the way I want them to, or I can surrender to the awesome foreknowledge of God and rely on Him to guide me and get me through. Either way, God still governs the universe, including me.

There is a way that seems right to a man,

but its end is the way of death. (v 25)

This one is perhaps the most troubling of all, because it tells me that something can look absolutely right to my eyes, and still be wrong. I can look at a situation from every angle, seek every opinion, carefully weigh every option. I can reason out my choices, justify my decisions, I can work to please people, and make my plans to accomplish my goals. And when I study it with human understanding, I can see that everything I've done, everything I'm doing, and everything I'm going to do is the way that seems right to me. It is the way that makes sense, that gives me what I want, that works out perfectly. But if it is not the way of the Lord, it is a straight line to sudden destruction.

So what is the answer then? What should govern and guide my decisions? Obviously, it can't be my own heart and mind, because both are part of a fallen existence. My heart is deceitful, and my mind plays tricks on me. I don't always have all the facts. So what is there that will guarantee I make the right decisions in life? The Word of God and the Will of God. One we find by reading what He wrote; the other we find by living it out as we listen for His voice. If we will surrender our will to His and stop talking long enough for Him to get in a word, He will tell us what we need to do.