Proverbs 4:27 “do not swerve to the right or the left; turn your foot away from evil”
The coast road, oh my goodness, the coast road. It was filled with amazing bends, some sweeping, some hairpins. It was a quiet offseason and the views out over the ocean at times were stunning. Not that you had time to look at the views as we raced our motorbikes, pitting ourselves against each other as well as the cars and other bikes.
We were a group of five or six friends who just simply loved our bikes. We spoke in bike-ese, we stayed up late talking about bikes, at night we dreamed about being on our bikes, we went to the motorcycle racing together, and when the weather was bad we build model bikes. We probably looked like trouble, [because that’s the bikie look] but we never were.
Anyway, back to the coast road. It was our favourite thing to do, to go on a run together on a summer night, down the coast road, stopping at the end village, and nursing a half-pint of lager shandy for 30 minutes while we sat around chatting, laughing and telling grand stories of crashes, near-crashes, and the latest bike stuff.
We went down this road at a fair lick. At times it almost felt like a video game as we passed each other inside and outside, pushing the limits of our machines as well as our bodies.
I used to get so far over on the corners that the side stand would touch the road and start to chamfer. I often saw in my peripheral vision sparks coming from the road when I was taking a bend full on. So I had a great idea one day – why not take the side-stand off. I would still have the centre stand, a bit more work when stopped, but maybe the advantage of speed would outweigh the disadvantage of the extra work?
So the day comes and we are out together, on a run. We have an extra couple of guys join us so there is about eight or nine of us all running together towards the start of the coast road through the city. Drawing stares from pedestrians and traffic light stuck drivers.
And then we are on it, it’s glorious, I’m out in front, my bike is handling like a dream, and the gears are being worked hard at times. braking into bends and accelerating through and out, sometimes with a rear-end slide as I push the machine to its limits.
What I did not really realise though, was the side stand was actually acting as a guide at times, stopping me from taking the bike past its limits.
As I approached one bend I knew I was going too fast, but there was no way to brake hard in the spot I was in, so I went for it. And I went too far over, and off I came, spectacular, sore, and impacting. The side stand was actually a good guide. Eventually, it went back on as part of the rebuild.
KNOWLEDGE
We are continuing to consider the direction we allow our life to take physically, emotionally, intellectually and spiritually. There is a call to a single focus to the exclusion of all else. Care is needed as there are snares nearby in each direction. With the slightest of deviations, we could find ourselves making decisions that lead to dire consequences that last a lot longer than it took to make the decision. To the right, we can start to take advantage in an unethical way of opportunities that present themselves or that we create. We can start to make things happen in a certain way, drop hints about our needs, suggest outcomes for different situations, whisper promises to help ourselves or those close to us. Recently in the news, there were stories of wealthy parents being found to have bribed schools to accept their children, and I wondered how it all started, possibly with a small decision that opened the door to opportunity for greed, envy, jealousy, and deceit to waltz straight into the lives of wealthy, successful people, and see them end up in court and jail. Be careful with our small movements, our small decisions that are off-base. The left-hand covers over so the evil is not seen, it deals with idolatry and mystical issues, that can seem like good things but in the end, lead to destruction.
We are told that we have a choice – to keep our foot straight on or to turn our foot. The choice, the decision, the momentum sits with us.
For you and I, there is only one hope, as on our own strength we won’t be able to sustain this type of life. We need Jesus, and we need the Holy Spirit, to live in us, to equip us and to enable us to stand and to make God led decisions throughout the day, every day.
We have a desperate need for help and Jesus is our helper. The moment we slightly turn away from Him is the moment we risk consequences of damage entering into our lives. Let’s keep our eyes fixed on the author of life itself, the Living Word of God, our saviour, our redeemer, our Lord, our friend, our advocate, our champion, and the lover of our soul.
UNDERSTANDING
Let’s pick one word from this verse to look closer at and see if that can help us gain a deeper insight into how God would love us to live?
The word for “swerve” in Hebrew is pronounced as “natah” and appears 216 times in the Old Testament. This word is translated in the ESV into the English words, pitched; let down; turned [aside]; showed; bowed; outstretched; stretch out; siding; pervert; incline; evening [shadow]; astray; extend; lengthen; and, spread. Don’t move away from God’s guidance for any reason.
WISDOM: when you look back over your life how does that motivate you to steer straight ahead now?
STRENGTHS THOUGHT: Achiever and Activator as a Theme Dynamic. Always aware, always active and always adding……
Allan’s Unauthorised Version – [do not turn aside or bend for your own wrong advantage or towards the darkness, rather depart, reject and move your feet away from war, wickedness and wretchedness.]
PRAYER: Father, thank you for today. Help me please to stay on the right path with every decision that I make today. Thank you, my Father.
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There is only one hope— we need the Holy Spirit to live in us and equip us. So we are taught to have complete trust in Him. God’s decisions are the best ones, as we have learnt so painfully in our younger days when we thought we knew best. Often this led to disastrous consequences where getting back on track was a painful process.
Pastor Allan, thank you for Proverbs 4 with a wealth of very practical advice, and your personal experiences ( the dinner plate sized spider made my hair stand on end!) . Looking forward to Proverbs 5.
Amazing message and powerful voice of wisdom for our lives. It embodies all the wisdoms and guiding advice of the whole chapter. We can become complacent and think it’s ok to add on my own ideas to spice or enrich my life. But without Godly advice and the Holy Spirit on my journey, I know I may just take the path of no return. Thank you Pastor Allan for your time and effort to bring God’s words and make it fresh and alive. I look forward to Proverbs chaper5:) please.
Yes stay the path. We are well equipped for this. God has given us His word and the precious Holy Spirit.
I think sometimes it’s the small decisions we make that will carve out the path we ultimately walk out.
Thank you for today’s word. Your adventures on your bike sound exilarating.
Thanks for the reminder and sharing about how the little wise decisions we make are crucial for where we are heading Xx
So good …. our decisions .. perfect timing .. asking God …. He Will guide us when we let him into every area of our lives 🙏🏼
Amazing message.Thank you pastor Allen
Thanks Pastor Allan for another episode on your motor bike – the carefree & often reckless years of youth which can have a huge impact on our lives in the future!! Thankfully you came out alive to tell the story!!
We are so blessed to have Jesus as our yardstick & the Holy Spirit to impart the wisdom needed to keep us on the straight & narrow. Wisdom comes with experience & I thank God that I could have made very bad decisions in my youth which would not have landed me where I am today but I know He protected me so many times when in my pride & naivety I didn’t know Him like I do today! Learning from the hard knocks running from evil & putting Jesus first in your life are key to staying on the right course. It’s surprising that even a very slight wrong choice can lead ultimately to a big mistake & so Solomon warns us to keep our focus straight ahead. When you think about a farmer plowing a field if he goes off even ever so slightly he can end up making a major blunder which will affect his harvest. A good analogy for our lives!!
I would love to see you in black leather on a Harley going straight. What a great reminder to stay focussed on Jesus.
Amen. Father LORD help me to stay the path. I will keep fixing my eyes to JESUS, the author and the finisher of my faith.
We need Jesus, and we need the Holy Spirit, to live in us, to equip us and to enable us to stand and to make God led decisions throughout the day, every day.
This is my prayer . Amen Thanks Allan
Every day is a choice
We need Jesus, and we need the Holy Spirit, to live in us, to equip us and to enable us to stand and to make God led decisions throughout the day, every day.
Amen -100%. We cannot do this life in our own strength. We need Jesus each and everyday, His strength, His guidance. I always want to surrender to him and ask Him to help me each day. Thank you for this reminder. So good!
Thank you so much Ps Allan for encouraging.
I love this – to keep our foot straight on, or to turn our foot. The choice, the decision, the momentum sits with us. This is so true.
We always need Jesus to help and guide us every single day. So much Gold!
When I look back into my life ,I see that all the times I had stumbled are the times when I had not waited on the Lord for his direction,but made choices purely on my feelings.
Today i have learnt how important it is to wait on the Lord ,to consider every life desition with Him and not on my thoughts and feelings.
And when I look back I’m very grateful that God saved me in so many occasions from disaster.
Pastor Alan, there many canny resemblance to me and my friends, not riding bikes but racing through London’s West End back in the late 70s, the danger (car crashes), it seems that we have soooooo much in common pastor Alan, keep them storie coming my friend 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👍🏾
I love your stories that illustrate the scriptures