“The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining ever brighter till the full light of day. But the way of the wicked is like deep darkness.”
Proverbs 4:18-19
At the age of 14 I had my first encounter with incarceration. I was a kid with no real sense of the dangerous path I was choosing and did not understand the harm I’d cause myself and others in the coming years. As I grew into a young man, I wound up in jail regularly for my crimes and started to see increasingly stiff penalties. The last time I was arrested, I recall looking around and seeing familiar faces I’d been in and out of jail with over the years. I was starting to know fellow inmates the way you might get to know your neighbors. And I was not proud of it.
In a moment of God’s severe mercy, He revealed to me that what I once thought was a carefree existence was more like a one-way ticket to darkness and misery. The Lord used the harsh realities of my life to get a hold of me. He sometimes will work just that way in us. He presents to us that through Him there is another way, a way that leads to life.
This “path of the righteous” is a path bathed in the light of Christ and covered in His blood—blood He willingly shed for us.
In a moment of God’s severe mercy, He revealed to me that what I once thought was a carefree existence was more like a one-way ticket to darkness and misery. The Lord used the harsh realities of my life to get a hold of me. He sometimes will work just that way in us. He presents to us that through Him there is another way, a way that leads to life.
This “path of the righteous” is a path bathed in the light of Christ and covered in His blood—blood He willingly shed for us.
Scripture Focus
Proverbs 4:18-27
Insight
How has God shown you the danger of a path you were on? Let Him in His severe mercy redirect you to His love and His light.
Bible In A Year
- Exodus 31-32
- Psalm 41
- Luke 5