Don't be a Horses PatuteProverbs 3:7 Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and shun evil.
I was an emancipated minor by the age of fifteen. When I was seventeen, while sharing an apartment with my brother for a time, he accused me of being an alcoholic. Just because I had a fake ID and came home with a six pack every day after work, didn't make me a drunk, I assured him. "I can give it up any time I want," I bragged. Just to prove my point, for the next month I drank white grape juice every day instead of beer.
Who was I trying to convince? As soon as my thirty days of sobriety was up, I went right back to my daily six pack and promptly moved elsewhere.
A number of times in my drinking career I moved away from people who called me on my drinking and tried to help. I did not fear the Lord and sought my own wisdom which told me I was just fine. I didn't "need" to drink, and why couldn't everybody mind their own business?
As an earlier Proverb told us, fear of God is the beginning of knowledge. When I finally realized there was a power greater than myself and that He might have a better life for me if I would just seek Him, things began to change. When I turned my will and my life over to God as I understood Him, I began to change. When God became the center of my universe, I began to understand some things.
I'm late in writing this today because the enemy was on my tail all day long and doing his best to hold me in his grip. But I fear God: He is my Savior; He loosens the grip of the devil.
Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and shun evil. Whatever you're trying to do on your own, let it go. Lean on the wisdom of God and let Him carry you through your trials.
Father, we lean on You and You alone. Strike the hold of him who would lead us astray and show us the way to go, in the strength of Jesus. In Your name we pray, amen.
