“Take fast hold,” grab onto up, buckle it down, nail it down—don’t let it get away. “Take fast hold of instruction,” people don’t like to be taught. They don’t like to have somebody stand up before them and look them in the eye and tell them what to do. It is good for us to be rebuked and reproved, but the world doesn’t like it. “Don’t judge us!”
“. . . keep her; for she is thy life,” which is what God instructed the children of Israel through Moses:
“Now therefore hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgments, which I teach you, for to do them, that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which the LORD God of your fathers giveth you. Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you” (Deuteronomy 4:1-2 KJV).
“Enter not into the path of the wicked,” the Devil never makes the path of the wicked look bad; he always makes it look good. And to the flesh, the pretty path or the easy path, always looks like the right way to go. If you are right with God, there is always something that just doesn’t ring right. You think, “Well, it looks good, but there just isn’t something that doesn’t seem right about it.” The Holy Spirit doesn’t bear witness to it.
Somebody says, “Look, here is a way to make an easy buck, all you have to do it just cut this corner, and just tell one or two little lies.” You think, “Wait a minute! I don’t mind an easy buck, I just don’t think we ought to lie to do it, I just don’t think we ought to cheat.”
“. . . and go not in the way of evil men,” which is the broad way of Matthew 7:13, that is the “way of destruction.” Most folks are on the broad way. Is there any coincidence that there is a Broadway in New York? Many a girl has destroyed her life on Broadway, many a man sold his soul to the Devil to get on Broadway. You better give your soul to God and stay on the narrow way.
Notice the contrast in verse 12, your steps will not be straightened, you will have a wide place to walk in, but then again, the paths of the wicked are wide. That just goes to show you how different it is in each verse. Walking with the Lord is narrow—and there is only one way to do it—and that is the right way. The wicked go off in all kinds of different directions, but their way is a dangerous way that leads to destruction.
“Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away,” enter not, just stay away from it. When you see it, take off! Don’t just contemplate it. Do you know why the Bible tells us to “avoid it?” Because if you stand there and look at that, the Devil will figure out how to make it so appealing and so attempting that you are liable to say, “Well, I’ll just try it once.” Once is hooked! That’s all the Devil wants you to do. He just wants you to try in once. It only takes one time to O.D. on drugs. Just one little slip up can ruin a number of lives in nothing flat. When you see the wine in the cup, don’t even look at it! “But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death” (James 1:14-15 KJV).
“Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men. Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away.”
Let’s read a chapter of Proverbs a day and see what God might have for us. As the Lord leads, share with us what God has shown you in a special way and by His grace let us build up a devotional repository. Let’s keep our knives and forks handy for some daily bread!
If anyone would like to be added to the ping list, please let me know either by post or by p.m.