Series: Wisdom That Works
Message: Two Paths
Preacher: Jenniffer Ogden
Reflection: Mark Witas
Live Wonder: Zan Long
Live Adventure: Jessyka Dooley
Live Beyond: J. Murdock
Live Purpose: Kyle Smith
Editor: Becky De Oliveira
Refresh: Begin with prayer. Ask for the Holy Spirit to open your heart to new understanding and for God’s character to be revealed.
Read: Proverbs 4:1-27 in the English Standard Version (ESV). Note 1–3 insights or questions.
Reflect: “Listen, my son, accept what I say, and the years of your life will be many” (Proverbs 4:10).
One last word about listening. The Bible is full of stories about men and women whose fate depends on whether they listen or not.
Eve was walking in the garden when she heard a voice coming from a tree. She listened. I wish she wouldn’t have. Cain decided he didn’t want to listen to appeals from his Creator. I wish he would have. Moses listened to the Burning Bush. I’m glad he did. (I’m not sure he was always glad he did, but I’m glad he did.) Samuel was instructed to listen to the voice calling him at night. Elijah was reaffirmed in leadership when he listened to the Still Small Voice. Isaac listened and reacted, “Here I am Lord, send me.”
Not everybody is great at listening all the time. In fact, Saul had to be knocked around a little bit to get his attention.
Listening is a thing that theology nerds and pastors have often reframed into the word called. People often ask me, “How did you hear the voice of God that called you into ministry?” The answer to that is complicated. On the one hand, I didn’t ever hear an audible voice telling me to be a pastor. On the other hand, I do believe that God called me to do what I’m doing.
So how do I hear the voice of God? Maybe a better way to phrase that is, “How can I best position myself to hear the voice of God in my life?” Some suggestions.
First, for some reason we’ve been taught to pray in a way that has us doing all the talking and none of the listening. We ask, beg, petition, compliment, and sometimes yell at God, then eat breakfast and go to work, or fall asleep on our pillow. One suggestion is, instead of making prayer a monologue, turn it into a dialogue. Yes, speak, but then listen. Ask God to bring to your mind/thinking/interactions His plan, His intentions for your life, His direction.
Second, don’t put any belief or doctrine be set in dry cement. Instead, keep it all in wet cement. If we’ve decided on anything, if God wants to take us in another direction, how can He? Keep your ideals in wet cement. This is not to say that you won’t settle on the important things of love, joy, peace, and self control. It is to say we need to stop standing on doctrine/theology/practice and allow God to move us as He sees fit.
Recalibrate: When was the last time your theological mind was changed because you were listening and not steeped in the deafness of certainty?
Respond: Pray these words: “Oh God of life, help me to always be listening to your Spirit. Spirit guide me into more and more truth about You and the Father.”
Research: Consider reading The Sin of Certainty by Peter Enns.
Remember: “I guide you in the way of wisdom and lead you along straight paths” (Proverbs 4:11, ICB).
Mark Witas is the lead pastor at Sunnyside Adventist Church in Portland, Oregon.
Take your shoes off and compare your feet with your child’s. Wiggle your toes and roll your feet around in all directions. Stand up and stomp and jump and stretch all using your feet. Imagine if our feet had no flexibility at all. Pretend that you are a statue and move around your house. Play a game of Dance and Freeze with your favorite songs. When the music stops, freeze on the spot holding your statue pose. It’s never fun when you get stuck in one position. We are designed to be flexible, in everything. Let’s stretch out our minds and bodies and move through our days with grace.
What are some things that you think about a lot? Grown ups seem to think a lot about work or what to make for dinner. What do you think about most of the time? Proverbs tells us that the things we think about run our lives. How do you think that works? If you are always thinking about a game, most likely you’re going to try and play the game as much as you can. If you’re always thinking about homework, you most likely will do a lot of homework. What kinds of thoughts do you want in your mind? Do you think you can help your brain think of good thoughts and not bad thoughts? How?
By now I think you know the rules before crossing the street. If you’re in the United States, you know to look left, look right, and look left again. The reason is that the cars will come from the left side before the right side, so the danger is immediately to your left and that means you need to look twice. (This changes depending on where you live and which side of the road your drivers drive on!) But have you ever thought about danger even when you aren’t about to cross a road? More often than not we don’t pay much attention to what is going on around us when traffic isn’t involved. Traffic patterns give us a way to predict what might happen because there are clearly defined lines on the road; the road itself is often made of a different material than the sidewalks or playground grass, and there are defined directions of travel. But when we aren’t around any of those things, should we still pay close attention to our feet?
In Proverbs 4:26, Solomon tells us to “consider the path of our feet; then all your ways will be sure.” That means we are supposed to be paying attention to where we are, and what is around us at all times—not just when we are about to cross the road.
But why?
The goal is always safety when looking both ways before crossing the street. With wisdom, the goal is always to be wise no matter where we stand. The more awareness we have of our surroundings, the more wise we are able to be. Think about it—if you have more information based on where you are, how cold it is, how hungry you are, how other people are feeling, etc., you will be more capable of making good decisions. More information is always better when attempting to be wise.
How might you be more aware of where your feet are? How might paying closer attention to the paths you’re on help you be more wise today?
This week’s thoughts have been very instructional. You are probably thinking, “Why does this guy keep giving me things to do?” Yet, this chapter of Proverbs itself is full of instruction. It wasn’t my goal to blast you with the do’s and don’ts, but to encourage you to focus your life in the direction of faith. If there is one takeaway from this week it should be “focus.” We become what we focus upon. As we enter into the Sabbath hours fix your focus on Jesus. At the end of the day, all this advice only makes sense if we have our gaze on Him. A life focused on Jesus will prove to be one that is charted with peace. It won’t always be the most rewarding or the easiest, but we have the promise of peace—and that is what everyone is dying for!
Zan Long is GRC director for faith development for ages 0-17. She lives in Sydney, Australia, and serves at her local church in nearby Kellyville.
Jessyka Dooley is assistant youth director for the Rocky Mountain Conference of Seventh-day Adventists in Denver, Colorado.
J. Murdock is associate pastor at Boulder Adventist Church in Boulder, Colorado, where he focuses on youth and young adult ministry.
Kyle Smith is the associate pastor of youth and family ministries at New Haven Adventist Church in Overland Park, Kansas.