You Can Do That
Do not be wise in your own eyes;
Fear the Lord and depart from evil.
It will be health to your flesh,
And strength to your bones. – Proverbs 3:7-8.
For the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord, and He ponders all his paths.
His own iniquities entrap the wicked man,
And he is caught in the cords of his sin.
He shall die for lack of instruction,
And in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray. – Proverbs 5:21-23.
In Oklahoma this week there was the odd video of police chasing a man on a stolen ATV who had on handcuffs. The chase went on for some time with the owner of the ATV chasing the stolen ATV in another ATV for a while. There were news choppers following the action keeping the police informed as to the man’s location. He was finally forced to stop and securely arrested. I say “securely” because this all began when the man was being arrested earlier, even being handcuffed, but he escaped which led to the ATV chase. He is being charged with various crimes including felony eluding of law enforcement and of course with stealing the ATV. (kfor 08.10.21; foxnews; msn; yahoo; and almost every other news venue possible.)
Just because you can do something does not necessarily mean that you should do it. Just because you can escape from police custody while you are handcuffed and steal an ATV does not necessarily mean that you should do it. As we can see with the man who stole the ATV it may not end well.
The problem is identified by the King Solomon in Proverbs 3:7 where he says: “Do not be wise in your own eyes.” In the man’s own wisdom, he thought it would be the right thing to do to escape from custody, steal an ATV and lead police on a dangerous chase.
You can be “…wise in your own eyes” do some illegal drugs and die of a fentanyl overdose.
You can be “…wise in your own eyes” get in a vehicle and drive while intoxicated and spend years in prison.
You can be “…wise in your own eyes” rob a bank and spend years in a federal prison or even worse be shot dead on the spot.
You can be “…wise in your own eyes” have sex outside of marriage contracting a sexually transmitted disease.
You can be “…wise in your own eyes” and in a fit of rage shoot and kill someone or run someone off the road because they cut you off and kill someone.
To sum this up: you can do that. You can be “…wise in your own eyes” go crazy and do some stupid stuff. You can do that, but it is not going to end well and will ruin your life.
King Solomon tells us very plainly what we ought to do instead of being “…wise in your own eyes.” Solomon gives us the plain truth of the right path to take: “Fear the Lord and depart from evil. It will be health to your flesh, and strength to your bones.”