Prov. iv. 12
GOD never teaches unwisely; He teaches in the way of wisdom. There is not a word in the Bible which, if followed, would lead one in any wrong or foolish way. The best human friends may err in judgment and may advise us wrongly. Human wisdom is short-sighted. Good people may be guided by personal interest or by prejudice, and with the truest love and the best intentions may counsel things which are not wise. Bad advice has wrecked many lives. But God never errs. His counsel is never mistaken, never unwise. No one was ever wrecked by His pilotage. We may always be entirely sure that if we take the way marked out for us in the Bible it wil1 lead us in the right path.
In fact, the promise is definitely made, “When thou goest, thy steps shall not be straitened.” The figure is of a path growing so narrow that one cannot walk in it with comfort. Sin’s paths seem broad at first, and those who enter them boast of liberty. They walk amid the flowers, and their hearts are filled with pleasure. But these paths, as they go on, grow narrow, and lead into ways that are close, rough, and hard. Everyone knows how the sinner finds his way beset with all kinds of difficulties and dangers. The bright opening of a wrong life very soon narrows into darkness and trouble. There is a story of a narrowing cell which was used in medieval days. When the prisoner was first put into it it was wide and airy, with mirrored walls, brilliant and beautiful. But each day the walls drew a little closer together. Hidden machinery always in motion caused the slow but continued contraction of the cell walls. By-and-by the prisoner became conscious of what was going on, but he was powerless to interfere. Slowly but surely the cell became smaller and smaller, until at last the prisoner was crushed in its fatal embrace. So it is that sin’s steps are straitened.
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