Out Of The Path

“Concerning the works of men, by the word of thy lips I have kept [me from] the paths of the destroyer.” (Ps 17:4 AV)

The name of ‘destroyer’ also belongs to Satan.  Above, however, it is characteristic of those who are seeking to harm the writer.  This is Satan’s MO.  This is the world’s MO.  Both know they cannot defeat God.  God is all powerful.  God is sovereign.  The destroyer knows God cannot be beaten.  He is not out to defeat God.  He is out to hurt God.  The only way to do that is to destroy what God loves.  It is the ultimate act of defiance.  If God cannot be conquered, then the destroyer will ruin and hope of joy in victory.  If the destroyer cannot win, he will attempt to ruin the victory for the stronger.  This is beyond repulsive.  It is beyond wicked.  The destroyer is as far from God as anyone can be.  He is an active enemy of God, bent on inflicting as much misery as he can, knowing in some way it will affect God.  What the psalmist vows is that by the word of God, he will keep himself from the paths of the destroyer.  Either he is speaking of not becoming a victim of the destroyer, or perhaps not emulating him.  Either way, the ways of the destroyer are to be diligently avoided.  The saint and no business entertaining the ways of the destroyer and he should be wise enough to see them, sidestepping them effectively.

It actually sounds kind of funny that someone would deliberately go in the ways of the destroyer.  Most of us have enough sense to avoid traps or harmful places.  Most of us would not go over a guardrail.  Most of us could see destruction ahead and seek ways around it.  But destruction is not always that obvious.  Harmful places, actions, or dispositions are not always discernable.  Years ago, my brother and I were hiking through a gorge of shale.  If you don’t know what that looks like, I will try to explain it.  Imagine a narrow box gorge carved out be water through layers and layers of thin rocks.  These rocks are not as thick as they are long.  We call them field stones because in the old days, these stones made perfect ‘bricks’ in which to construct a wall.  It was not uncommon to see the boundaries of farms outlined by these walls of fieldstone.  Shale is a miniature fieldstone.  Shale is what the Indians used for arrowheads.  It is extremely thin rock laid atop on another like bricks would be.  All horizontal.  Anyway, my brother and I were hiking this gorge, and we came across a rope suspended from above.  We looked up, and it appeared it was used to climb out of the gorge.  So, my brother yanked on the rope to test it.  Down came a large rock right on his head.  It was not a small stone or piece of shale.  It was a larger chuck of rock.  Right on top of the head.  By God’s grace, it landed horizontally and not vertically.  Otherwise, he may not have survived that accident. The problem was not the rope.  The problem was not the gorge.  The problem was putting oneself in the path of destruction.  We would have walked that gorge with no problem.  We would have noticed the rope and could have moved on.  But my brother’s curiosity got the better of him.  He didn’t know what would happen.  We were not old enough or wise enough to discern to potential harm above.  We went down the path of destruction out of ignorance and not out of deliberate rebellion. 

This is exactly the writer’s point.  The escape from the path of destruction is heeding the words of God.  It is not enough to read them.  It is not enough to study them.  We must go to the word of God proactively and not reactively.  The saint must make it a daily habit to be in the word of God and seek wisdom that will eventually keep him from the path of destruction.  This does not come easy.  What must sink deep into our minds is the reality there are forces out there that want to see us destroyed.  It is personal.  The devil and world hate God.  They have made you their target.  They know you cannot lose your salvation, so they seek ways to make it impossible to walk worthy of the vocation wherewith we are called.  They seek ways to make our walk with God a failure.  They invent paths that lead to utter desolation and misery.  If they cannot enjoy the pleasure of walking with God, they will see to it that you do not either.  The prudent saint will spend a good deal of time in the word of God’s lips.  It will keep him from traversing a path that only ends one way.  This is the psalmist’s vow.  This should be our vow.