Wrong Seems Right

There is a way that seems right to a man,But its end is the way of death.

Proverbs 16:25 (NKJV)

This very same statement is made in Proverbs 14:12. Since repetition is the mother of learning, God must want us to understand this: that “there is a way that seems right to us, but its end is the way of death.”

So, ladies, let’s think about some of the ways that we might get stuck on thinking we are doing the right thing for us or for our kids, but in the end they will hurt us. Let me list a few.

It might seem right when your kids are in sports and their games are on weekends to miss church during all of baseball season, but the end of that is that your kids become detached from youth group, and they learn that a little plastic trophy is more important than honoring God.

So many single women believe that they will never be happy unless they get married. They think they must compromise morally to win a man, and that any man is better than no man at all.

Some married women think that they can only be happy if their husband changes, makes more money, or they got rid of this husband for another one. So they give up praying for their husbands. They settle for a deadness of the heart.

Sometimes we think our kids would be better off if we worked outside the home to buy them nice things. But we forget kids need a mom more than they need nice things. There are times when it seems right to be rude to your mother-in-law, or watch that racy TV show, or stop tithing when money is tight, because “there is a way that seems right to us as women, but its end is the way of death.”

Make It Personal . . . Live It Out!

Can you think of an occasion when you made a decision that seemed good at the time, but it turned out bad? I can. Our human understanding is flawed and shortsighted. That’s why it is exciting that God offers to make his wisdom available to us at any time. James 1:5-8 is an invitation and a promise: “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally” (NKJV). Will you ask him to guide you today?

One Year Bible Reading

1 Kings 2:1–3:2; Acts 5:1-42; Psalm 125:1-5; Proverbs 16:25