Dear Faith Family,
Are there any verses in the Bible that haunt you? You know a verse or passage that, while not always in direct focus, is hovering around somewhere in your mind? You can sense its presence, and every once in a while, it pops out as a warning (or perhaps an encouragement)? Well, there is a proverb that has haunted me for as long as I can remember,
"There is a way that seems right to a man,
but its end is the ways of death."
(Proverbs 14:12, 16:25)
Often, while reading, watching, listening, or amid an internal dialogue, the apparition appears like a lemure, startling me to attentiveness. With the proverb echoing in mind, I take deeper (and more prayerful) consideration of what I am doing and thinking.
Oddly enough, the proverbial visitant makes its appearance in the most mundane, acceptable, and seemingly harmless contexts. In other words, when I least expect it!
There is a reason for this peculiar materializing, I believe. You see, my tendency, like most of us, is not to do things that I know to be antithetical to the way of Jesus. Oh, I certainly have moments, like all of us, where I want to give into my flesh. But, in those contexts, I know that what I desire is not what is good and true and beautiful. Generally, and predominately, I, like most of us, long to live life in-step with God, moving with the flow of the Spirit in God's continuing story.
But here is the thing, my good intentions can be manipulated and used to reduce life, rather than make it abundant. This is most especially true in life areas that appear neutral or harmless by societal standards, yet shape our understanding of the world and our place within it most significantly. Here is how Georges Bernanos describes our tendency via his young cleric in The Diary of a Country Priest,
"Sometimes I think of [the ways of death] as trying to get a hold of the mind of God, and not merely hating it without understanding, but understanding it the wrong way round; thus unknowingly struggling against the current of life, instead of swimming with it; wearing [ourselves] out in absurd, terrifying attempts to reconstruct in the opposite direction, the whole work of the Creator."
My haunting proverb is, I believe, a gift of the Holy Ghost. The Helper and Spirit of Truth, keeping me from unwittingly wearing myself out by going against His flow. And so, my prayer for you is two-fold. First, if you have a haunting verse, that you would recognize and treasure its periodic stirrings. And second, that my proverbial phantom would take up residence in you too!
Love you faith family! God bless.