My dad used to have a saying, adapted for both appropriateness and a church audience, that really hit at the core of this scripture. He would say “Don’t “pee” on my leg and tell me it’s raining.”
My dad wanted it straight with no beating around the bush.
If it was bad news, he wanted the bad news. He hated it when people tried to sugar coat bad news as though you couldn’t tell the real underlining message. I think this came from a lifetime of working in a factory as a machinist where many people “pee’d on his legs and told him it was raining.”
The author of proverbs is reminding us about a fundamental truth. Opinions and virtues are as varied as the number of people who hold them yet God knows the trueness of a person’s heart.
God knows the reason for our ideologies.
God knows the intention behind the belief.
God knows why we are desperately pursuing this goal and that dream.
We might be able to talk our way into and out of nearly any situation and justify nearly anything we want but God “weighs the heart”. God knows exactly the things we try hardest to conceal.
Take bullies for example. Why do bullies pick on people? Studies have shown that many bullies often lack attention from their parents at home and lash out at others for attention. While certainly not all cases of bullying are due to neglect, this suggests how easily we adopt behaviors and ideas as a coping mechanism for deep seeded hurts and pain.
God sees us in our rawist states, at our core, even when we can’t even see it for ourselves.
I have found that when I am doing what I want without much regard to what God wants, I face a good deal of resistance. I might find the way easy to begin with but eventually I run into resistance.
However, when I am leaning into what I believe God wants me to do, things often go smoother and with far less resistance. It’s like…not that hard!
Have you noticed this to be true?
While it can be frustrating to constantly hear that God may have a different plan for our lives (because we REALLY want what we want); we find it to be true as we find ourselves essentially “grasping to grab and hold running water”.
The doors we don’t always want open up and the doors we REALLY want to open seem to close or stay closed. The author of Proverbs is reminding us that while we might believe we know the right pathway to be right…God ultimately knows. God weighs the heart.
I pray that you remain open new ways of thinking, doing, and being. While nothing is wrong with doing what you do; be sure to check in with God frequently to see if God is wanting the same thing for you, as you want for yourself. It might save you some unnecessary heart burn and frustration in the long run.
May it be so,