The Straight And Narrow

"Let your eyes look directly forward, and your gaze be straight before you. Ponder the path of your feet; then all your ways will be sure. Do not swerve to the right or to the left: turn your foot away from evil" (Proverbs 4:25-27).

Starting with the debacle of the Garden of Eden, we humans have always wanted what we can't have. Craig Barnes once said that he believed the Lord placed one forbidden tree in the garden simply to prove that we were never meant to have it all.

Yet we strive for just that.

The discipline of keeping our eyes on that which is good for us is imperative if we want to really enjoy life. It is important to ponder the path we walk in order to experience life to its richest potential. Wisdom tells us that avoiding all swerves to the right and left takes us to the ultimate destination. And so wisdom's call is to avoid crashing into ditches that ruin the journey.

We must keep in mind that sin is not only attractive to us, it is deadly. The admonition from God to walk the straight and narrow path is not punishment. It is provision. The day we learn that what we are looking for is not on the side of the road but rather over the horizon, is the day we truly start to live. Life is truly lived well when we live it on the path and not in the ditch.

And so we are told to keep our eyes on the horizon. We are told to not swerve off the road into the ditch. We are told to ponder the path set before us. This is God's provision for us, not His punishment. The straight and narrow road is a daring and dangerous road because it takes faith that what is over the horizon is much better than what is in the ditch.