The Pondering Path - Part 1

To say there are problems in our educational system is an understatement. Teachers, administrators, board members, unions, curriculum writers, and publishers no longer hide their freethinking, sexually explicit, woke doctrine in schools but visibly and publicly celebrate and teach it.

Before I devoted my life to Christian education in the late 70s, I was immersed in the public school environment, where I witnessed a continuously changing doctrine of liberal, anti-God influences in the curriculum. Teachers were periodically given new definitions, new word restrictions, and new liberal ways of teaching. Continuous change in curriculum and methodology is a red flag that should warn parents and anyone with common sense to pay attention!

Now more than ever we must ground ourselves in truth. This is why I am compelled to draw your attention to Proverbs 5:6, one of the most controversial verses in Proverbs. Its controversy lies in translation, as you’ll see in the following versions:

• She does not consider the path of life; she does not know that her ways are unstable (Berean Bible).

• She does not ponder the path of life; her ways wander, and she does not know it (ESV).

• So that she findeth not the level path of life: Her ways are unstable, she knows not (ASV).

• Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life, her ways are moveable, that thou canst not know them (KJV).

• You aren’t thinking about where her life is headed; her steps wander, but you do not realize it (ISV).

The first three translations place the emphasis on she, the seductive woman. They claim that it is she who does not ponder the path of life or consider the direction she is going. Her wandering ways are unstable and dangerous.

The KJV and ISV (International Standard Version) place the emphasis on you, the son, not pondering the path of life. It is the son who can’t see how far off the path he has strayed, all because of the strange woman’s unstable and moveable enticements. Which, then, is the correct translation?

As always, we must look to the context to discover the meaning. In chapter 4 the father commands his son to “ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established.” In chapter 5 it appears that the father is warning the son that if he becomes enticed by the smooth-tongued, seductive woman, then he will not be able to ponder the path of life. If the son doesn’t ponder the path of his feet, then he won’t be able to ponder the path of life.

If you look closely at the text in the KJV, verse 6 reads that her ways are moveable.

Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life, her ways are moveable, that thou canst not know them.

The word ways refers to one’s entrenched direction. It carries the idea of a person going one way and one way only. Yet we find the woman in this passage constantly changing the way to her destination. Her destination is hell, and her goal is to take as many with her as possible. In order to entice others on her way, she changes each appealing route so that no one can catch on to her methods—“her ways are moveable.” The word moveable also carries the idea of being unstable. Her ways are untested, unpredictable, and unreliable. Her life is characterized by an unsettledness that keeps her admirers from knowing her true character.

These moveable ways come in varying tactics and appealing routes. Today they come in packages of media, technology, gender identity, political philosophy, video games, gambling, drugs, premarital sex, greed, and lust. The seductive woman has an enticing path for each person. And just when you are getting ready to depart from her ways, she presents a new appetizing method before you.

As it pertains to the continuously changing doctrine of liberal influences in education, the influence of Folly’s ways have pervaded the system—“they are moveable, constantly changing, brazenly confident but shallow and untested.”

We see this continuous change in the LGBT acronym, which eventually evolved to be LGBTQIA+ and is now LGBTQQIP2SA. Sadly, this has crept into the public education system. So much is changing in education that teachers no longer educate—they indoctrinate.

The same occurred in Germany prior to the Holocaust. Hitler believed that if he could influence the mind of a child from birth to seven years of age, then he would have their allegiance for life—and he did. If you study the history of Hitler’s rule, you will find that he continuously changed the laws regarding Jewish rights until they had none.

Evil is always changing its methods, terms, opportunities, appealing invitations, and pleasures. But God’s truths and rules for life never change. His ways are as clear as the noonday and straight as an arrow. That is because truth doesn’t change, moral decency doesn’t change, and God’s standards for life, love, equality, and pleasure have never changed. In contrast, Folly and her foolish followers are governed by constant change; new and exciting experiences whet their appetites yet never satisfy. These moveable paths of life are the only thing constant in Folly’s methods.

To overcome these tactics, read the next set of verses in Proverbs. You’ll sense the urgency in the tone of Solomon’s letter to his children:

Hear/obey me now therefore, O ye sons, and depart not from the words of my mouth. Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house (Proverbs 5:7, 8).

Don’t miss this! The best way to overcome folly’s influence is to stay as far away as possible. Those who think they can be a friend of the world will in the end be an enemy of God (James 4:4).

I invite you to come back to Part 2 of this series as we continue exploring the teaching of King Solomon and discover the five major losses that occur when we choose compromise over conviction.

Sincerely,

Mark Hamby

M.S., M. Div., Th. M., D. Min.

Recommended Reading:

• The Three Weavers (All Ages)

• Crown of Success book/audio (Ages 9+)

•  Idols of the Heart (Ages 12+)