How to Walk Wisely     PROVERBS 28:26  Believers are to walk by faith, according to 2 Corinthians 5:7. However, with so many voices clamoring for us to follow worldly paths, we sometimes struggle to hear and apply God’s wisdom. For example, our natural impulse to withhold mercy is hard to ignore, even though the Lord demands that we forgive (Eph. 4:32).

Godly wisdom is the capacity to view things as the Lord does and to respond according to biblical principles. This discernment isn’t automatic. Yes, God’s Spirit lives inside believers to prompt them to do right. However, each individual chooses whether or not to pursue the wise way.

If a person is going to walk wisely, he or she must commit to remaining on the right path—that is, to determine in the heart, “I will follow God no matter what.” Pleasing the Lord and conforming to His likeness are always the right things to do.

Resolving to honor the Lord transforms the way that believers make decisions. Instead of following instincts or impulses, I choose to seek God’s viewpoint in a given situation. Moreover, rather than relying on other people’s advice, I choose to search Scripture for verification of what I hear Him saying to me. As a result, the Holy Spirit’s quiet voice becomes easier to discern, and those worldly shouts fade.

You have a loving heavenly Father who honors the heartfelt commitment to walk according to His will. God assumes responsibility for offering His children sought-after wisdom and enabling them to keep walking on the right path (Prov. 3:5-6). Following Him is always the best decision

Little Sins

Catch the foxes for us, the little foxes that spoil the vineyards.

Song of Songs 2:15

A little thorn can cause much suffering. A small cloud may hide the sun. Tiny foxes spoil the vineyards; and little sins do mischief to the tender heart. These small sins burrow in the soul and fill it with what is hateful to Christ, and thus our comfortable fellowship and communion with Him is spoiled. A great sin cannot destroy a Christian, but a little sin can make him miserable.

Jesus will not walk with His people unless they drive out every known sin. He says, “If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.”¹ Some Christians rarely enjoy their Savior’s presence. How is this? Surely it must be an affliction for a tender child to be separated from his father. Are you a child of God, and yet satisfied to live without seeing your Father’s face?

What! You are the spouse of Christ, and yet content to be absent from His company! Surely, you have fallen into a sad state, for the pure spouse of Christ mourns like a dove without her mate when he has left her.

Here is the question: What has driven Christ from you? He hides His face behind the wall of your sins. That wall may be made up of little pebbles as easily as of great stones. The sea is made of drops; the rocks are made of grains: And the sea that divides you from Christ may be filled with the drops of your little sins; and the rock that almost wrecked the vessel of your life may have been made by the daily working of the coral insects of your little sins.

If you would live with Christ and walk with Christ and see Christ and have fellowship with Christ, pay attention to “the little foxes that spoil the vineyard, for our vineyards are in blossom.” Jesus invites you to go with Him against them. He will surely, like Samson, take the foxes at once and easily. Go with Him to the hunting.

¹John 15:10