DAD'S RAMBLINGS -- THE WAY OF RIGHTEOUSNESS

DAD'S RAMBLINGS – THE WAY OF THE RIGHTEOUS

"Who is wise?  Let him understand these things.  Who is prudent?  Let him know them.  For the ways of the LORD are right; The righteous walk in them, but transgressors stumble in them."  (Hosea 14:9)

It does not take a genius to understand that there are two ways to live – a righteous life following God's ways and an ungodly life.  The wise person looks beyond the immediate to the end result.  The fool does not consider the end – only the immediate pleasure or reward.

I am reminded of the picture that the Psalmist gives us in Psalm 1.  The person who walks in God's paths of righteousness and does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly is like a tree planted by the rivers of water that produces fruit and whose leaf does not wither.

The person who does not walk in God's way is like the chaff which the wind blows away during the winnowing process.  He stumbles over the ways of the Lord because they are obstacles in his way of pursuing personal pleasure and worldly gain.  Ultimately, the way of the transgressor ends in emptiness.

The wise man is intelligent and skillful in living a godly life.  He is prudent in discerning what is good and what is bad, what is right and what is wrong.  He has understanding of the end result of how he orders his life.  No wonder transgressors stumble.  They are walking in darkness and do not see the reality of the way they live nor the end result.

God calls us to be wise.  We do not need to be afraid of stumbling when we walk in God's paths of righteousness because the good Shepherd leads us in paths of righteousness for His name's sake.

Love, Dad