There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death. (Proverbs 16:25 NKJV)
I lost about 60 pounds four years ago, and I’ve done a pretty good job keeping it off. But alas, I am now about 5 pounds away from comfortable. My clothes are fitting a lot tighter these days. It could be from ALL that food yesterday….the turkey, the stuffing, the green beans cooked in bacon grease AND butter (you heard me….bacon grease – yummo!). But in actuality, I blame the .50 cent cones at McDonald’s this summer.
They were SO inexpensive and SO convenient on the way home from the pool and seemed SO small and harmless. They were SUCH a good deal and SO easy on the budget. It HAD to be a good idea, right? Not so! They may have been half price, but they were NOT half calories or half fat grams! Now, I am 5 pounds away from comfortable, and it takes a LOT more work to get the weight off than it was to put it on.
There is a way that SEEMS right and easy and convenient, but in the end it may not be so! That word death can also mean ruin. (And boy did those .50 cones ruin my waistline!) It can seem SO right to take the easy way out or follow a path that WE want to take that may be just a bit off from God’s best…..a path that means an instant gratification instead of waiting. But in the end, it is not going to be best, and it will take a LOT more work to get it back on track than if we would have gone the right way in the first place.
God promised Abraham and Sarah a baby. And YEARS later, when there was still no baby, they decided to hurry the promise along and help God out just a little bit. Bless their hearts! (Ever been there?) It probably SEEMED right for Sarah to try to get a son through her servant Hagar instead of waiting on God to fulfill His promise. (It was actually the custom in the day, if you can imagine!) So they had Ishmael. Lovely Ishmael…who’s descendants STILL give Israel problems today. (Not such a good idea.)
God still fulfilled His Word, and Sarah had a son who was the son of Promise, but they dealt with some extra grief because they followed a way that SEEMED right instead of waiting for God’s best. In all our ways if we ask Him, He will direct our path. He will show us the way to go. Then it is our choice to walk in it, which sometimes means waiting and trusting instead of helping.
God doesn’t need our help. What He needs is our trust and our patience. It is hard to wait. I have even tried to help God out a time or two….Yikes! I have followed my own plan at times and I have waited for God’s plan at times…..and God’s plan is definitely better! His plans are perfect. I know it’s not easy to wait, but when you choose His way, you will never be disappointed. You will be fully satisfied without being 5 pounds away from comfortable!
Now to Him Who, by (in consequence of) the [action of His] power that is at work within us, is able to [carry out His purpose and] do superabundantly, far over and above all that we [dare] ask or think [infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, hopes, or dreams]— (Ephesians 3:20 AMP)