Select a Ring of Truth daily devotion online
Ring of Truth provides 366 daily ‘proofs’ that the Bible is consistent throughout from Genesis to Revelation, and relevant for our lives today!
Select the date to display the devotion for:
Proverbs 14:12
There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.
What is your way?
This, in one sense, is one of the brightest ‘Rings of Truth’, which runs throughout the Bible and epitomises the mess society is in today, as well as the state of mind of most people.
Ever since Adam and Eve, ‘we’ have come up with two basic statements, “No, God!” and “I will do it my way.” In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve started by saying “No, God, we will not be totally obedient” and followed straight up with “We will do it our way; we will eat of the forbidden fruit; we will eat the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.”
God had said that if they did so, they would die. The enemy, Satan, tricked them into believing that ‘their way’ would not end in death, but in reality, they died spiritually immediately and physically some years later.
The enemy was a liar from the beginning and the lie was still alive and well in Solomon’s day, as we read here. It was still there in Jesus’ day and is still here in the present. It will remain the ‘truth’ until this world passes away and God re-establishes His righteous kingdom throughout the cosmos.
The Bible is full of evidence that this verse has been the hallmark of mankind.
Cain offered up his own kind of sacrifice to God (worshipping God in his way) and ended up killing Abel (see Genesis 4:8).
Ham laughed at his father, Noah’s, drunkenness and exposed his nakedness but ended up cursed by his father and God (see Genesis 9:24–25).
Esau despised his birthright and lost his inheritance to Jacob (see Genesis 25 & 27).
Pharaoh enslaved the Hebrews, mocked God, and ended up with all the Egyptian firstborn killed (see Exodus 5–12).
The Hebrews refused to enter the Promised Land and died in the wilderness (see Numbers 13 & 14).
Moses struck the rock and died on the mountain (see Numbers 20 & Deuteronomy 32–34).
David committed adultery with Bathsheba and ended up killing Uriah, her husband, and their baby died (see 2 Samuel 11 & 12).
Remember all the kings we have looked at?
Later, Herod wanted to ‘worship’ Jesus his way and ended up killing all the babies 2 years old or younger (see Matthew 2:1–18).
The religious leaders wanted to preserve their traditions and religion and ended up killing their Messiah, Jesus, the Lord of Glory.
Saul of Tarsus thought he was right and killed many Christians, including Stephen, the first martyr. (Paul watched and did nothing - see Acts 7:54–8:1.)
Leaders down through the centuries have done what seems right to them but it has ended in tragedy and death.
Even today, we think it is right to practise abortion but it ends in the death of a baby, and the guilt of the murder on both the mother and the person executing the ‘operation’. Yes, and if we don’t eliminate abortion, we too, are ‘accessories to the fact’.
But the problem is universal. It is true of each of us.
“We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way: and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:6).
Over and above all that we do, we still have an innate desire to want to do it ‘My Way’. We say, in effect: “We will not have this Man (Jesus) to reign over us. We know better, and we will definitely not submit to Him.” (See also Luke 19:14.)
Because Jesus Christ alone is life and health, light and truth, goodness and love, we effectively commit ‘suicide’ every day.
Yes, “There is a way that seems right to a man but in the end it leads to death.”
If you want life – turn to Jesus – ask Him to guide you in His ways and give Him control of your life. Then you will have life in all its fullness – in abundance, followed by a never-ending perfect life in Heaven.
Now that’s worth it, isn’t it?
Download the above Ring of Truth devotion as a PDF.
Previous Day's Devotion | Next Day's Devotion
To subscribe to this daily devotion by email visit our Daily Email subscription page.
