The Ways of the World: Watch Your Step

Introduction

One step can make a big difference. One step can be the difference between breaking your ankle and summiting the mountain. One step can be the difference between falling down the ravine or having the hike of a lifetime. I remember as a teenager exploring some woods with my cousin. We were walking through this thick brush, when all of a sudden, I took one step and was buried up to my waste in thick mud. I couldn’t lift my legs and couldn’t walk. I had to pull myself out by grabbing hold of a tree, and even then I lost one of my shoes that was sucked down into the depths of Sheol. It was the difference of one step. There was one step difference between solid ground and quicksand.

That’s a picture of walking through this world, isn’t it? This is what scares parents to death for the sake of their kids. You know that one step can make all of the difference. One step can inflict a wound so deep, cause a scar so painful at a cost so steep that it will affect them for the rest of their lives. We live in a treacherous world, don’t we? We live in a world that makes poison look delicious. And, the path through this world that leads to life is a narrow one. This is the point of Proverbs. Proverbs are for the purpose of allowing us to be surefooted in a treacherous world. It is given to us so that we might walk carefully and effectively down the narrow path that leads to life, and it’s this very path that the father wants to talk with his son about in .

God’s Word

Read

1) Pay Attention.

v.20 “My son, be attentive to my word” This week, Proverbs has a word that is particularly pressing for our time. We’re still listening in on a father imparting wisdom to his son, and, now, in chapter 4, he’s calling for him to pay attention to wisdom. He wants his son to not to just listen for a time, not to just listen casually, not to just remember it generally, but to focus himself upon it. He wants his son to pay attention to every syllable as though his very life is depending on it.

Shortest Attention Span in History

But, paying attention is easier said than done, isn’t it? It’s one thing to listen, but it’s quite another to keep on listening. It’s one thing to sit in a class and robotically write down what the teacher says, and it’s quite another to pay attention. It’s one thing to have a moment of inspiration and devotion, but then quickly fizzle out, and quite another to listen one day and then continue to be attentive day in and day out. We live in a time in which our attention spans are the shortest in history. We have become so gifted at multi-tasking that we feel uncomfortable to be fully engaged in a singular task and even more uncomfortable when all of the noise shuts down simultaneously. We want to engage in our online friendships in the midst of a lunch with our friends. We want to check on the news while we are spending time with our wife. We don’t just go the doctor; we answer email in the waiting room. We don’t just go to the bathroom; we see what people think of our new pictures while we’re there. We don’t just wait on the light to turn green; we shop for our kid’s Christmas present while we wait. According to a recent study performed by Microsoft, the average attention span is down to 8 seconds, that’s 4 seconds less than it was just in 2000, and one second less than a goldfish. Which means that most of you, didn’t even hear most of what I just said.

Keep Looking at God

v. 20 “incline your ear to my sayings” And yet, that works against wisdom. A lack of focus is an invitation for foolishness. That’s what Proverbs is calling us to. The father says to his son, “incline your ear to my sayings.” That is, turn your whole body so that your ear is leaned into my voice. Reorient your life so that you can hear wisdom and understand it. Proverbs calling us not just to a time of temporary guilt or inspiration in which we say, “I’m gonna wake up earlier and eat healthier and exercise more and be nicer,” only to flame out in 8 seconds. Wisdom is to look at God and then keep looking at God. It’s to lean into his word day in and day out. It’s calling you to focus so much on God that the sheer awesomeness of God, the power of God, the wonder of God refocuses you, re-energizes you, re-ignites you day after day. This is why ‘the fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge,’ and this is why Solomon says here that we must ‘be attentive to (his) words; and incline (our) ears to (his) sayings.” Wisdom requires a cycle of focus that begins by focusing on God himself which then spills out into every arena of life.

APPLICATION:

Take Wisdom Captive

v. 21 “Let them (my teachings) not escape from your sight; keep them within your heart” Verse 21 elaborates on what he's saying. He says that wisdom is like a prisoner that is trying to escape. And, your job is to build a prison that is so secure, so airtight that it has no chance of breaking out. This past week, ‘El Chapo’ Guzman was finally convicted as the leading drug lord of the Mexican drug cartel. Prior to this conviction, El Chapo had escaped twice from maximum security prisons, once through a laundry cart and once through a tunnel. This is a picture of wisdom for us. And, all of you that have pursued wisdom know this -- it’s elusive. It’s slippery. One moment of complacency, one moment of compromise, one moment of sleepishly going through the motions, and wisdom has escaped and your life is in ruins. Wisdom must be taken captive, and then Wisdom must be secured. It must never get out of our sight. It must be locked down so that we have it when we need it.

APPLICATION: The reason that wisdom must be kept in your sight and within in your heart is that wisdom has to be on time for it to even matter. Wisdom can’t be late. When you find yourself at a crossroads or in a crisis, it’s too late to attain wisdom. When you discover your son’s pornography addiction or your daughter tells you that she’s pregnant, it’s too late for you to attain the wisdom needed. Your wisdom is late. When your mother is diagnosed with terminal cancer and asks you how God could let this happen, it’s too late to attain wisdom. You need it right then. When your children have questions and your co-workers are in crisis or when you’re facing down the barrel of life yourself, you need wisdom to be on time. And, that means that it must have been stored up over a period of time and kept -- held on to. We have to take wisdom prisoner so that it will be punctual and portable. We have to take wisdom prisoner so that it will be available when we need it where we need it. There are no cheat sheets in life. This math doesn’t come with a calculator. You need wisdom that is ready to be put on the spot.

APPLICATION: Pay attention, and then keep on paying attention. Look at God, and then keep looking at God.

Wisdom Makes Life Better

v. 22 “For they are life to those who find them, and healing to all their flesh” Wisdom doesn’t make life easier so much as it makes life better. Life is still complex. Life is still filled with ebbs and flows of tears and laughter. But, although wisdom doesn’t make life easier, it gives you the ability to rightly navigate life’s complexities so that you are strengthened rather than crushed, matured rather than defeated. This is why he says, “(My words) are life to those who find them, and healing to all their flesh.” Wisdom keeps life from killing you. Wisdom replenishes you in a world that depletes you. It gives you handles on the insurmountable and a grip on the overwhelming.

APPLICATION: Wisdom keeps you full of life. Wisdom soothes your soul when it ails. Wisdom calms your mind when it races. Wisdom defends you from lies. Wisdom keeps your chin lifted up, your eyes looking forward, and your heart filled with hope. So, pay attention to wisdom. Lean in when God’s word is being preached. Make time for God’s word in your daily life. Spend time with believers that are farther down the road than you are. But, pay attention to wisdom so that you can be replenished in a world of depletion.

2) Guard Your Heart

v. 23 “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.” So, in the first half of our passage, we see Solomon calling for his son to be focused upon wisdom, and in the second half, Solomon gives us two warnings of threats to wisdom. He warns his son of the distractions and difficulties he’s likely to face as he seeks to focus on what is right.

The first warning that Solomon gives is to guard your heart. He’s concerned that his son’s heart might become distracted and take his focus off of wisdom. The first warning regards the distraction of the heart. Proverbs understands the heart as being the storehouse of the person. We are trained to hear ‘heart’ and think of emotions, passions, and sentimentality. But, for the Hebrew, the heart was more of how we think of the mind. It is the place where the thoughts, opinions, personality, and morality are stored. It is the seat of the will from which we make our decisions. And so, in verse 21, he has just told us to ‘keep/store/treasure’ in our hearts the wisdom that we’ve attained, and now he tells us to guard and defend our hearts with vigilance. You see the walls of a prison are intended to accomplish two things: 1) keep the right people in, and 2) keep the wrong people out. And, that’s what’s in view in verse 23. If we want to be wise, we have to keep wisdom in our hearts and in our minds while at the same time we keep foolishness out of our hearts and minds. We have to keep what’s good in and what’s bad out. Your house is a storehouse of what you let in, and so you must be the gatekeeper, the watchman over your heart so that wisdom comes in and is kept while foolishness is left out in the cold.

Fortify Your Heart

APPLICATION: You must fortify your hearts. You must watch with vigilance every corner of your lives and be prepared to shoot dead any foolishness that tries to infiltrate us. The call to vigilance is a call away from complacency. Complacency is expensive. Complacent parents who worry more with softball that with the gospel. Complacent teachers in the church that aren’t saturated with God’s word and learning new aspects of God’s glory. Complacent as missionaries. Our children, our friends, and our community are hell-bound because of our complacency, and we are miserable for the very same reason. Let me ask you: Are you fortifying your heart? How much of Hollywood is stored in your heart, and how much of Romans is there? How much anger is stored there verses how much grace and forgiveness? How much business acumen is there verses how much passion for God’s Kingdom is there? Fortify your hearts, Christian!

Not Lakes, Rivers

v. 23b “for from it flow the springs of life” Why? Why must we fortify our hearts? Why must we so carefully guard what is stored in our hearts? It’s because our hearts are not static reservoirs like a lake. They don’t just collect poison and pollution, and then just stagnate. Our hearts are dynamic and moving and flowing like a river. They are conduits of what comes in. They don’t collect poison. Our hearts transport and transplant poison. They take poison in and then spew poison out. Hurt people hurt people. Angry people spread bitterness like a virus. Worldly people lead their families into the world But, for the wise, the opposite is true. The wise are conduits of grace and channels of mercy. They are life-giving, not life-sucking. The wise import the goodness of God into every relationship, every decision, and every component of their lives. They are unmasking the glorious image of God in them so that his goodness is spread to the ends of the earth. People who are full of God draw people to God. People who are full of kindness are kind. People are who full of joy make other people joyful. What comes in flows out.

Words are Overflow

v. 24 “Put away from you crooked speech, and put devious talk far from you.” This is Solomon’s point in verse 24. It’s application of what he’s just said. What you say reveals what you are. What comes out of you reveals what’s inside of you. There is no place in which the storehouse of your heart spills out more than through your words. So, the wise person, the God-fearing person, the gospel saturated person will ‘Put away...crooked speech’, and they will ‘put devious talk far from’ them. They won’t touch it with a ten foot pole. Because it’s not in their hearts. It’s uncomfortable for them. It doesn’t set well inside of them. Jesus summarizes this same principle in . He says, “For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” That is, if you are to be wise, foolishness cannot come out of your heart. Foolish words are indicators of a foolish heart. Toxic words are indicators of a toxic heart. Immoral words are indicator of an immoral heart. Your heart isn’t a static pond collecting these things up so they will stagnate. Your heart is a dynamic river, a conduit from which these things pour.

APPLICATION: What does your talk reveal about your heart? Wisdom brings a winsomeness that allows you to discuss even sensitive matters with grace. Any fool can spew an opinion. Any fool can find something that’s true and just say it. That isn’t wisdom. Wisdom is saying the right words in the right way. Because it comes from a heart that loves God, fears God, and wants to honor God. What does the jokes that you tell and laugh at say about your heart? What does the way that you talk to your parents or husband say about your heart? What does your love of gossip reveal about what’s in you? What are you transporting in the places that you go? Godliness or foolishness?

3) Watch Your Step

v. 25 “Let your eyes look directly forward, and your gaze be straight before you” Following his caution of the heart, Solomon cautions his son over his path. He’s told you to guard your hearts, and now he tells you to watch your step. The two main threats to wisdom in Solomon’s mind are the distraction of the heart and detours of the path. That is, it is to love the wrong things and to go the wrong way. There is a relationship between these two cautions, isn’t there? Eventually what you really love will determine the path that you take. But, less obvious to us and just as true, is that your path will over time shape what you love. My mom used to tell me that you can’t help who you fall in love with, so make sure you date the right caliber of person, the kind of person that it would be good for you to fall in love with. Why? If you spend enough time with someone, you will develop feelings for that person, and if that relationship is unequally yoked, if that relationship is not two people running after Jesus with all of their hearts, then your path will take your heart off course.

Look at Where You Want to Go

He starts this warning where every step down every step begins -- your eyes. You will always walk where your eyes are looking. A couple of years ago, I went took whitewater kayaking lessons. What I quickly discovered was just the sheer force of the water. Kayaking is all about learning to leverage the force of the water to take you where you want to go instead of it pushing you where it wants to send you. They have what they call ‘strainers.’ A strainer is where there is debris in the river where the water is taking you, and if you hit it, the force of the water is going to push you through it like meat through a strainer. And, with everything that’s happening around you, you find yourself constantly darting your eyes in every direction, and when you see one of these strainers, all you can think is how badly you don’t want to go through it, so you stare it down and paddle as hard as you can to avoid it. But, I kept finding myself going exactly where I was trying to avoid no matter how hard I paddled. And, the instructor said this to me: “Don’t look at what you want to avoid. Look where you want to go. That boat is going to go wherever you’re looking.” That’s the principle that Solomon is teaching his son here about wisdom. Don’t look around you. Don’t look at all of the things that people tell you you’re missing out on. Don’t look at all of the commercials and all of the Facebook happiness. Look at where you want to go. Look at the target! If you want to live like Jesus and look like Jesus and move toward Jesus, look at Jesus!

Step Deliberately

APPLICATION: Have you ever noticed how people that are always looking at Jesus look like Jesus? After all, these are the people that you admire, aren’t they? They are the people that you want to teach you. They are the people that you seek out when you’ve run out of answers. They are the people that inspire you in your walk. Brothers and sisters, you can all be those types of people. Look at Jesus if you want to look like Jesus. You’re going to follow your eyes every time.

Step Deliberately

v. 26a “Ponder the path of your feet” He says to ‘ponder’, think deeply about the path that your on. Don’t step quickly; step intentionally. The wise don’t just run aimlessly through their lives. The wise aren’t content with floating. Wise people deliberate over every step. They thoughtfully step. Wise people understand that floating never takes you anywhere worth going. There is a stream of modern thought that has been blended in with Christianity that is tempting to many well-meaning Christians. Modern thought says, “If I just want something badly enough, if I just desire it long enough, if I’ll just be good enough, then it will happen.” The church has added in: “If you just want something badly enough, if you’ll just be sweet enough, then God will make sure that you get it.” But, brothers and sisters, this flies in the face of God’s design of the world. Proverbs teaches that God blesses the devout, not the drifter. God is not our genie in a lamp; He is the pillar of fire we follow in obedience and faith to the Promised Land. Christianity is not a superstition; it’s a way of life. It’s not a cloud to float on, but a path to walk down. It’s offering yourself to God in faith by the life that you live through the steps that you take.

Surefooted Living

v. 26b ‘then all your ways will be sure’ APPLICATION: The benefit of not being distracted and taken off path is that ‘ALL you ways will be sure’. That is, if you are on the path of wisdom, if you are on the path of godliness, as trying as that path may be, as perplexing as that path may be, you will be surefooted. Wherever you step, the ground will firm beneath you. No holes, no broken ankles, no wrong turns. You’ll never be lost. Too many Christians are swimming in quicksand. They’re living and marrying and parenting and working and retiring, all while swimming in quicksand. But, God did not call you out of the dark and into quicksand. He called you into light. You can be surefooted in this treacherous world if you will pay attention, guard your heart, and watch your step. Will you actually do it?