Proverbs 4:14-17

“Do not enter the path of the wicked,
and do not walk in the way of evildoers.
Avoid it; do not go on it;
turn away from it and pass on.
For they cannot sleep unless they have done wrong;
they are robbed of sleep unless they have made someone stumble.
For they eat the bread of wickedness
and drink the wine of violence.”

I think that most believers wouldn’t not consider themselves in any manner wicked. I mean, one doesn’t choose to follow Christ or to go to church due to their desire to be evil or mean or wicked. We choose God because we want to reject those things, but often they remain in our lives to haunt us. Old habits, they say, die hard.

Ain’t that the truth?

Whether it’s a hair-quick temper or a gossipy mouth or a jealous spirit, most of us struggle with some habitual problem.

Habit.

Wikipedia (not my favorite reference, but good in a pinch) defines habit this way: “an acquired pattern of behavior that often occurs automatically.” There are many things we do as a habit, do without thinking: brushing our teeth, walking, chewing, putting on a jacket, kissing. There are other things we do that can spark the desire to do something. This is called the antecedent event, the situation which triggers, in our minds, the desire to do something.

In my classroom, there is a telephone. There are also usually 20-40 rather hyperactive and inattentive students. So, I made a decision that, unless I was sitting at my desk doing paperwork, I wouldn’t answer my telephone but would rather allow the calls to go to voice mail. Well, I have to tell you that my students (who are the children of the cell phone age) just go nuts because I won’t answer the phone. The ringing is an antecedent event for them, the urge to answer the phone so strong.

If we look at many of the habitual sins in our lives, we may find that there are antecedent events which trigger the desire for the behavior. I think this is what the writer of Proverbs was eluding to when he wrote: “Do not enter the path of the wicked.” In other words, don’t even start there, avoid that antecedent event and you will avoid walking there.

I think about entering like opening a door and walking through. The door is there. We don’t have to open it. We can even walk by and ignore it. But it’s like going through a house that you want to buy. Even if you don’t like the house and know you aren’t going to buy it, there is that insatiable curiosity to find out what’s behind the closed door. And while we know what’s behind the door of that sinful, habitual behavior, there still is that compelling desire to go there.

Notice what this passage says: “Avoid it; do not go on it; turn away from it and pass on.” Three admonitions to just not go there. I think that it’s important, as Christians, that we become self-aware enough to know what situations are the opening door to sin and to choose to avoid them.

© 2008 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved. International copyright reserved. This study may be copied for nonprofit and/or church purposes only without permission when copied in its entirety (including this notice).