The Footpath

"Make level paths for your feet and take only ways that are firm." -Proverbs 4:26

Behind my barn is a paddock that is fenced in with five exit gates from it that lead to three different pastures. One of the pastures is the main pasture that has the pond in it. This is the one that almost all of my animals eat from. The other two are supplementary and are used for keeping either infirm animals or pregnant ones or young ones I'm weaning from their mother.

From a goat's eye view, I would eat my morning grain and meander with the rest of the herd in a single file format through the gate that leads to the main pasture so that I could get my drink and begin grazing for the day. What's amazing about this mini-parade that occurs every day is that there is one long footpath that all of the goats and sheep follow that leads all the way to the rear of the pasture. From that path, they can break off into groups to begin grazing, but all of them follow the same straight commute to get there. Not one of them will set a foot off of that narrow path to get to where they're going.

That little road reminded me of that verse in Proverbs because one or more animals decided to separate that path from the rest of the land and it became over time "the way to go". That way has been tested through generations of livestock to be the firm and sure way to get to where they need to be.

Why do my goats and sheep follow the same path every day? Simple. It's proven. It's secure. Any building can be made, but all of them must sprout from a firm and sure foundation. If there were a path that led into some dark woods where a hungry coyote lurked and ate a goat every day, I am certain that that path would be quickly abandoned by the remaining livestock.

How much more should we only tread paths that have been proven to lead to where we will find blessing? Abandon all paths that lead to the Devourer. If there's some idiot sheep that insist on that path, abandon the sheep. Psalm 1 says,"Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. Not so the wicked! (the idiot sheep) They are like chaff that the wind blows away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. For the Lord watches over the way (footpath) of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish."

A wise man will tread the firm path and reap a long and prosperous life. The man that decides to follow the way of the rebellious will reap pretty much the opposite. Tread the firm path. Walk with the wise.