Wisdom Wednesday: A Way that Seems Right
Submitted by Debbie’s Dad
“There is a way which seems right to a man,
But its end is the way of death.”
Prov. 14:12 and Prov. 16:25 NASB 95
This is the only Scripture passage in Proverbs that is repeated verbatim twice; it is found in Chapters 14 and 16. These two identical verses repeat an essential principle in the Proverbs.
Both verses are found in the context of teachings about the sharp contrast between the upright person and the wicked, the wise and the fool:
The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, But a wise man is he who listens to counsel. (Prov. 12:15)
The way of the fool appears to be right or straight – it feels right, but it is not. This concept is also repeated twice in the Proverbs, but not verbatim:
All the ways of a man are clean in his own sight, But the Lord weighs the motives. (16:2)
Every man’s way is right in his own eyes, But the Lord weighs the hearts. (21:2)
The fool is deceived by a self-judgment on outward behavior, not the inward motives of the heart. It is self-deception.
The solution to the self-deception of the fool? The remedy is provided in the same chapters where these warnings reside:
- In the way of righteousness is life, And in its pathway there is no death. (12:28).
- A wise man is cautious and turns away from evil (14:16a).
- He who walks in his uprightness fears the LORD (14:2a).
- To do righteousness and justice is desired by the LORD more than sacrifice. (21:3).
Similarly, Jesus contrasted the way of the fool and the wise when He spoke of the wide way of life that leads to destruction and the narrow way that leads to life. (Matthew 7:13–14 cf. Luke 13:24)
Eugene H. Peterson, in his popular interpretation of the Proverbs in The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language writes the 14:12–13 passage this way:
There’s a way of life that looks harmless enough;
look again—it leads straight to hell.
Sure, those people appear to be having a good time,
but all that laughter will end in heartbreak.
Let us not be self-deceived and live our lives in a way that seems right but live in God’s wisdom – a way of fearing the Lord, righteousness and justice, cautiously turning away from evil, as we trust in Him.