All of a man’s ways seem innocent to him,
But motives are weighed by the Lord.
Proverbs 16:2
I must confess that I never watch the news on television, and I do not receive the newspaper. I listen to the news on National Public Radio (NPR) when I am driving, and I read the news on the Internet. World news is awash with politics and war, national news reeks with partisan politics and good-ole-boy ploys, local news combines politics and crime, and “human interest” stories feature what your favorite celebrity did yesterday, the day before, or what they are planning to do tomorrow.
So much of what I read automatically begs the question, “Why would anyone do something like that?” or, “What in the world were they thinking?” Crimes committed, decisions rendered, and actions taken leave me shaking my head, wondering what could possibly have been the motive for such a choice. For there is always a motive, whether we have thought it through or not. The man in Norway who made the decision to descend on a youth camp with guns blazing believed that his actions were justified by his higher purpose. The parents of eighty-five youth mowed down in the conflagration would beg to differ.
Solomon reminds us that we tend to look at our lives through rose-colored glasses, believing that everything we do is for the good of all concerned. The prophet Jeremiah declared that, “The heart of man is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked – who can know it?” We may think that our plans spring from good intentions, but only God can truly see what our motives are. Perhaps before you and I make decisions today that could have eternal consequences, we should lay those plans before the Lord. He alone knows what truly drives our choices.
Prayer Need for Today:
For Judy, who is facing intricate back surgery on Tuesday
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