The Pathway to Right Choices
Evildoers do not understand what is right, but those who seek the Lord understand it fully. Proverbs 28:5
The older I grow, the less I depend on my judgment. Names, events, appointments, and requests sail in and out of my mind with alarming velocity. My multi-tasking days are over. I’m too easily distracted by the current thought swirling in my mind. What will we eat for dinner? Where are my keys?
To those personal conundrums, add the chaotic ebb and flow of trends, opinions, and hype hurled at me on social media and news channels. Topics no one mentioned in public a few decades ago are feature stories on magazine covers and plotlines of TV shows. I ask myself, “How can people think that’s a wise choice, a just response, or a pathway to fulfillment?”
Fortunately, God blessed me with Christian parents who taught me to look to his Word to understand right and wrong, to guide me toward fulfillment. As a child, I memorized Proverbs 3:5–6, which advises me to fully rely on God and not depend on my own understanding. Although I sometimes fail to follow that counsel, I know it is the pathway to right choices.
Many people, however, look to themselves for answers to life’s crucial questions. They allow their feelings to guide their decisions and actions. They may also depend on the counsel of so-called experts or the loudest voices of the disgruntled to determine right thinking and behaviors.
Proverbs 28:5 advises us to take the opposite viewpoint. Don’t depend on our own thinking. Without the guardrails of God’s Word, our desires often lead us to oppress others (v. 3), forsake God’s law (v. 4), yield to gluttony (v. 7), amass wealth by exploiting others (v. 8), conceal our sins (v. 13), and chase fantasies (v. 19).
That’s not the life I want to live. That’s not what God wants for me either. To “seek” the Lord means to “inquire into, examine”[1] The psalmists often used this Hebrew word in reference to prayer (Psalms 24:6, 27:8, 40:16, 105:4). The best way to understand and pursue what is right is, and always has been, to seek God’s guidance—in his Word and through prayer.
To what or to whom do you most often look for guidance? Develop the habit of consulting God and his Word first. The understanding you gain will lead you toward the life you truly desire.
Dig Deeper
Read Proverbs 28. What kind of behaviors and attitudes does the writer recommend? Which of them does God need to cultivate in you?
You may be familiar with Proverbs 3:5–6, but what about verses 7–12? How do these verses amplify what it means to “trust in the Lord with all your heart”?
How does Psalm 63:1–8 help you better understand what it means to “seek the Lord”?
Denise K. Loock
This devotion is part of our series on the book of Proverbs.
[1] “H1245 – bāqaš – Strong’s Hebrew Lexicon (niv).” Blue Letter Bible. Accessed 13 Nov, 2023. https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h1245/niv/wlc/0-1/.