I love a good competition. I was born into a family that loved competition, and I married a man who loves competition. We enjoy playing games just the two of us. (By the way, the last game we played, I won:)
Competition can be a good thing. Have you noticed, though, the amount of things that are always fighting for our attention? Let’s just name a few things to get us both on the same page: Phone calls, texts, emails, social media, music, advertisements, podcasts, books, television, friends, family, work, books we read, house work, meal prep, laundry. The list could be endless. As I was thinking about what I needed to accomplish today, I decided I would get done the most pressing thing with the nearest deadline.
We all have choices as we go through our days because so many things are competing for our attention. How do we decide what to choose to do and what we will fill our time with?
Proverbs 2 tells us about a few things that are competing for our attention, and as we analyze these things what is best should rise to the surface as we read about it in the Bible. However, as we get caught up in the whirlwind of our days, it may not seem so obvious on what we should choose.
Read through the box below and take some time to ponder what is in each column and the contrast that the first column – the way of wisdom from the Lord – and the other two columns that are the way of destruction.
| Proverbs 2:6-11, 20-21 | Proverbs 2: 12- 15 | Proverbs 2:16-19, 22 |
| The Lord gives wisdom | The way of evil | The forbidden woman |
| From His mouth comes knowledge and understanding | Men with perverted speech | Adulteress |
| He stores up sound wisdom for the upright | Forsake the path of uprightness | Smooth words |
| He is a shield to those who walk in integrity | Walk in the ways of darkness | Forsakes the companion of her youth |
| He guards the paths of justice | Rejoice in doing evil | Forgets the covenant of her God |
| He watches over the way of His saints | Delight in the perverseness of evil | Her house sinks down to death |
| You will understand righteousness, justice, equity, every good path | Men whose paths are crooked | Her paths lead to the departed |
| Wisdom will come into your heart | Devious in their ways | None who go to her come back |
| Knowledge will be pleasant to your soul | Nor do they regain the paths of life | |
| Walk in the way of good | ||
| Keep to the paths of the righteous | ||
| The upright will inhabit the land | ||
| Those with integrity will remain in it |
God’s ways protect us from harm. His ways are pleasant. His ways are good. His path is straight. His ways provide peace.
The ways of the man with perverted speech and the forbidden woman provide nothing good. The difficulty is that these ways are deceitful. We do not realize we are on this path at first. It seems to be fulfilling our desires and longings. We would call these people in our language today manipulators. They make us think that their ways are good for us and will provide us with the peace we are longing for. We think that their ways will bring fulfillment to what we want. What they really do is bring chaos into our lives. Their words and their actions bring chaos. Their words and actions cause you turn away from those who really love and care for you. They do this because they twist the words and actions of others into something they are not. Today, we call this gas lighting.
However, as we begin on this crooked path ourselves we are blind because the way is “dark.” We find ourselves making excuses to those that truly love and care for us. As we head down this “dark and crooked” path, the ones that love us are like Proverbs 8:1 “Does not wisdom call? Does not understanding raise her voice?” Wisdom calls out after those that are on the dark crooked path, but the further they get down this path they can no longer hear what wisdom is saying. The further they get from the voice of wisdom, the closer they get to destruction.
What is competing for your attention? What is competing for your thoughts? What is competing for your time? What is competing for your treasure (money)? What is competing for desires?
What is competing for your heart?
Stop and look around what path you are on. If you do not know, ask those that love you the most. If you do not know who loves you the most, ask your pastor. Many people have wise parents that would also love to give some wise counsel. You may not want to ask the ones right next to you because they may be on the same dark crooked path that you are. We need those that are wise in our lives so they can speak God’s truth into our lives. We need them to help provide that discernment in the midst of the competition
“My son, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you, making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding.” (Prov. 2:1, 2)
