Proverbs 14:12 Leads to Death
Food for Thought
An all-creatures.org Guide to Kingdom Living

By Marni Montanez

Proverbs 14:12 New International Version 

12. There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death.

There are many verses that seem to mean one thing and yet when you dive into the understanding of it, you find that they may have multiple meanings. 

For instance, this verse ends with “leads to death.”    At first glance it seems to mean the physical death of a person who leaves the earth.   But it could also mean the death of other things like the death of a dream or a death of a relationship….etc. 

The only way to be certain that our dreams and desires and yes, our physical body, stays alive is to walk within the realm of God’s wisdom. 

Even though we have given our life to Christ, many of us still do not understand God’s meaning of true submission to Him.   It says in Romans 16:27 that God alone is wise and yet our actions and behavior says we do not believe that.   We make decisions based on our experience and what we think we know is right, but without God’s counsel or approval it is only our misguided attempts to be wise.    In our earthly and carnal mindset we believe that we are making the right decisions and yet not one of us knows what our decisions will produce.   We think we know, but we don’t. 

We cannot base our decisions on future possibilities because we cannot see what those possibilities are.  Only God knows what path we are heading toward in our choices. 

There are so many things that have happened to each one of us, where we did certain things and got the desired result; however there comes a time when God requires more of our submission to His plan to achieve the same goal as before and may change the process.  So what once worked no longer does and we are left frustrated and confused.  Our decisions become our future and if we are not in constant communication with God about them we are going to make wrong decisions that will put to death something we could have had.   

In Proverbs 3:5-6 it says, “acknowledge the Lord”...wisdom begins with fearing the Lord or being in awe of Him because you know taking any steps without Him is suicide. 

We must acknowledge God in every situation and listen well to His directive.  

We must have the mind of Christ.  If we don’t have God’s mind we will be left desperate.  As our mind is changed and we think the way God does, we become one with Him in knowing what He wants us to do.   We may have the same goal but God may acquire it by different means.  That is why it is imperative that we are in line with God’s will and that we submit to how He chooses to accomplish what He wants through us.   This will save you so much pain and stress.

Challenge:  Let go of any preconceived ideas of how you should get to your desired goal.  Pray and make sure it is what God is leading you to and submit to how He wants to do it.

God bless,

Marni

Go on to: Proverbs 17:22
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The purpose of this series is to encourage people to live as loving, compassionate, and peacemaking children of God: Jesus tells us to pray, "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." (Matthew 6:10) God tells us through Micah (6:8), "He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God." And we know from Revelation 21:4 that there will be no more mourning, or crying, or pain, or death. Thus, Christian living requires us to set the standards of these conditions here on earth for our fellow human beings, and for the other animals, as a witness to the rest of the world. To do otherwise is not Christian.