Proverbs 14:8 Packing for my trip
The wisdom of the prudent is to give thought to their ways, but the folly of fools is deception.
Proverbs 14:8 NIV
There is a big difference between doing something impulsively and thinking about it beforehand. Some of my biggest and most embarrassing moments have come from the lack of consideration of the impact of my behavior. As a parent, before my child would do something stupid and potentially put his life and future at risk, I wanted him to consider what the result of certain, epic choices would be. Toilet-papering the neighbor’s yard is one thing. Stealing or hurting another human is another.
To give thought to “their ways,” is from the Hebrew word derek, which can mean both the physical route one takes to travel and the manner or disposition in which one travels — for example, being prepared and happy for the journey. When referring to animals, the word conveys the instinct which compels them a certain way. With humans, it can also be the character and disposition of soul.
So when thinking about taking a journey, God has given me a capacity to look forward and plan. What will I need to pack? Where will I visit? Or when I think of life in general, what will I be doing tomorrow? Next week? I have an ability to consider what I will do and how I will do it. Although animals have capacity to build nests and shelters, store up food, and anticipate nature’s signals, humans have a unique ability to “see” into the future and chart a path from today to align with a vision or preferred future. But even more important than planning for tomorrow, is understanding who I am. The person who is making the journey and in whose path I am walking.
The contrast in this Proverb is with the word fraud. From the Hebrew word ramah, meaning deceitfulness, or something false, feigned, guile, treachery. It is planning of a different sort and at the expense of another. Deception or fraud take a lot of forethought. Escaping the suspicion of others or the penalty of being caught could be considered a game — with real consequences.
Both good and deceptive people are planners. The prudent and fool look into the future and envision it a particular way.
As one who has the capacity to look forward, then let me look much further than the next trip, or life lesson, or the next deception. I must look forward to the person that those choices are making. Just like a recipe ask for a list of ingredients, those ingredients when mixed together will create (hopefully) the loaf of bread pictured in the cook book. Similarly, the choices I am daily making are the ingredients to the character I am baking. My recipe of life will result in a snapshot of me next to my particular recipe. The photo Solomon is including in the Proverbs recipe book is of the prudent, and the fool.
If I dismiss the words “prudent” and “the fool” (because of the quick bias I form in my mind) and instead simply look at the results of choices, I see that the “way” I am taking is creating a person. This person is given one life, every moment is built on the previous.
Not everyone gives thought to their way. Not everyone measures the ingredients they use in a recipe. And the results will be unpredictable. Life is too important to leave my choices to chance.
Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”
James 4:13-15 NIV