The inexperienced one will believe anything, but the sensible one watches his steps. A wise man is cautious and turns from evil, but a fool is easily angered and is careless. Proverbs 14:16 HCSB
A couple weeks ago, I was heading to visit my grandchild. I was on a road that I had traveled weekly for the last couple of months, so I was somewhat familiar with the area. I went through a construction zone that had the highway down to one lane. As I proceeded northbound of course traffic in the southbound lane was stopped waiting to go through.
In what seemed like a millisecond, I saw a black bumper, felt and heard an impact and wound up in the ditch. Thankfully no one was harmed. Another vehicle had been struck, so two of us had some pretty banged up vehicles, but injuries.
When it was over, I was so thankful for many things especially that no one had been injured. I was also thankful I had just come through that construction zone because I was going slower than the speed limit. My husband came to get me, and I drove home. I have not been fearful of driving, but I have been much more cautious and much more watchful of other drivers. I don’t fear driving because I know God was with me that day and is with me still.
There is no way I could have avoided this collision. But it has made me proceed with much greater caution. I will also tell you that when I speak with a loved one who is driving, I am a little more concerned about them because of other drivers on the road. While we may proceed with caution, other drivers aren’t doing the same thing. It’s like that living in this fallen world.
As we go through life, we must also proceed with caution. Our Scripture passage tells us that an inexperienced person will believe anything, but a sensible person watches his steps. He pays careful attention to where he is going and may not be so easily deceived.
It goes on to say a wise man is cautious and turns from evil, but a fool is easily angered. When we become angry and impatient we fail to be cautious. We proceed carelessly and often find ourselves in a predicament.
As Christians proceeding with caution means we put our faith in God. It means we obey His commands and show our love for Him (John 14:21). We pray for wisdom and discernment and God graciously gives both (James 1:5-8). Then we aren’t so easily deceived.
My friend if you are living a life of sin, you are living carelessly. We are warned that when we sin intentionally, we have no sacrifice for our sins, only a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire about to consume the adversaries (Hebrews 10:26).
We are going to face trials and tribulations in this fallen world, but we must stand strong. We do this by proceeding cautiously in our day to day lives. We do this by standing strong against temptation (1 Corinthians 10:13). We adhere to James 4:7 which tells us when we face temptation to surrender ourselves to God, resist the devil and he will flee from us. We stand in His strength (Philippians 4:13).
In this fallen world, there is no indication that things are going to get better, but we can get better. We can trust in God, surrender to Him and obey His commands. He will be with us when we face tough times. He will walk with us through our trials and temptations, and He will save us from the fire.
The only way we can proceed with caution is by surrendering to God and allowing Him to uphold us with His righteous right hand (Isaiah 41:10). As a child, my parents were cautious with me and made me hold their hands when crossing traffic or in crowds or any particularly dangerous situation.
Like a good Father, God holds my hand when I face hard times.
He’ll do the same for you.
Have a great day!