Have you ever heard the phrase “my way or the highway?” Usually it carries the idea of “take it or leave it” or “do it my way or leave.” The thought here is that someone who says something like this is a control freak. They are trying to control everything about what you’re doing and if you don’t do what they say then there will be consequences. They like to think they are the ones in power, they like to think they are the ones in control. However, in Proverbs 16 Solomon is telling us that God is saying that it’s His way or the highway. God’s not saying it as a control freak, He’s not saying it as someone who thinks He’s in control. HE IS IN CONTROL. Solomon lays out for us the need to follow God and the dangers of the highway. Think about it like this. You live in a home, things may not be spectacular but it’s safe and reasonably comfortable. All you have to do is obey the house rules and you can stay. You decide to do things your way, break the rules and you’re told to leave. You wander the highway looking for a place to go, hitching rides, walking or just sitting around outside. But hey, you’re doing things your way, right? As you might imagine, life like that presents a number of dangers but you’re living life your way. Which way seems preferable to you? That’s the question that Proverbs 16 leaves us with.
God’s in Control of Everything and Everyone
Sure, you can choose to see God as someone who meddles in your life but there is great comfort to be found in knowing that nothing surprises God. Nothing slips through His fingers. Nothing fails to capture His attention. You can plan every detail of you life and think you are in complete control but you can’t make life turn out the exact way you want it to. Even with all of your abilities and talents, even if those abilities are far above the abilities of others, we need God. We need to trust Him for guidance. We need to trust Him because He is the one who directs our path. He is the one who orders our steps. He is the one gives us life. You might be thinking, “I reject the idea that God is in control and I don’t care that He wants me to follow His way, He isn’t in control of my life, I am.” You might think that but Solomon reminds us that God has a purpose for everything and He even has control over those who choose evil, over those who choose to reject Him. You can’t escape God’s control but you can choose to do it your way and live with the consequences. God desires a relationship with each one of us but it has to be on His terms. He doesn’t demand it because He wants control, He demands our surrender to Him because He has control.
God’s Way Guides Well
The only way we’re going to value living our lives God’s way is to have a proper view of God in the first place. Once again in Proverbs we come across the phrase “the fear of the LORD.” This fear is an awe, respect and genuine terror at the greatness of God. He is ever present, all powerful and all knowing. He surpasses any human understanding. When we truly understand who we are in comparison to our magnificent God, we begin to see Him as not just a higher being in control of everything but as our Father who wants and knows what is best for us. We begin to see the wisdom of following God’s way because it is what is genuinely best for our lives. When we seek the goodness of God’s wisdom, we will naturally avoid the things of this world that are evil and contrary to God’s way. When we value God’s wisdom we understand that His wisdom gives understanding, guidance, a peaceful life, it directs our speech and gives an unjust world a sense of justice.
Our Way Leads To Disaster
Have you ever done something that you thought you knew how to do and it turned out all wrong? Most of us have. It’s like how I thought about driving as a 13 year old. It doesn’t look that hard and the basics seem easy to grasp. It isn’t until I had driven for years before I was confident in certain situations. Some people never get that confidence. I go back to when I was first learning to drive. I mean, I thought, “How hard could it be?” You stick the key in and turn it, put it into drive and turn the wheel to wherever you want the car to go. I thought I knew how to do it. The first time I ever got behind the wheel was with my older brother. He gave me a couple of tips, it was better than the constant instruction of having my dad beside me…or so I thought. But even with those tips, I still felt like I knew what I was doing. All I remember about that first drive is my brother freaking out about me almost hitting several parked cars. Fortunately for me, it wasn’t a complete disaster but it wasn’t good either. The one thing you can always count on from someone in this life is that they will fail. At some point, everyone fails. No one can be trusted to do the right thing every time. The only way that we can avoid disaster in this life is to look to the one that never fails, God. Our way will always lead us to a disastrous end and refusing to humble ourselves in surrender to God and His way is just asking for trouble.
Our Way Can’t Satisfy, It Only Separates
Solomon says that a person who chooses his own way over God’s way lives a life that is worthless. Unlike a man that works hard and does everything that is required of him, the person who goes their own way doesn’t find satisfaction is getting their own way. Think about it. How many of us have thought about getting something we really wanted and then when we finally had that thing, we were completely happy the rest of our lives? When I was a kid, I wanted a Nintendo so bad. I thought it was the greatest thing ever but it was $100 back in the 80’s. Not cheap! I begged my parents for over a year before I finally had a Nintendo. I did enjoy it for quite a while but let’s just say it doesn’t thrill me like it did back then. I haven’t even had it in about 25 years. I got my way but it didn’t satisfy, why? Because what I wanted wasn’t something eternal. It was just another thing in this world, just stuff. Getting our way is always like that. It’s selfish and thoughtless of others. We are driven to do what we think is best for us at the expense of others and at its worst, this selfishness leads to some pretty ugly actions. Gossip and backstabbing in the hopes of making ourselves look better or to put us in a better position only serve to push people away from us. This selfish attitude doesn’t limit itself to strangers but it also often pushes the people closest to us away.
There is one thing that we can always be absolutely certain of in this life, God is in control. He desires a relationship with everyone and expects us to trust in His way. When we go our own way, we must face the consequences of rejecting God and even in choosing our own way we can’t escape God’s control. Although many things in our lives may seem random, with no rhyme or reason for why those things happen, God has a plan and is in control. Nothing escapes His plan, nothing.
Conquering Light 
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