We trip down life’s pathway as if all was easy and bound to lead to success, as if every scheme was expected to prosper. Life’s challenges look innocent enough from the viewpoint of autonomous man, but in fact even the simplest task is fraught with spiritual hazard. What makes life such a potential source of harm? It seems to be full of fairly ordinary events that most can negotiate without too much trouble. The problem is that we fail to take account of the fact that this world is cursed by God and that we have within us a fallen nature. We have spiritual enemies who are determined to bring us down. We have enemies within which make us weak to resist temptation and we have an enemy outside, the devil, who is set on our eternal destruction. All this makes what seems straightforward to be full of danger.
A man or woman seeks an education. This is surely a natural and necessary step and one that does not in itself seem to contain any danger. And yet we can be motivated by a desire to glorify ourselves, to appear to be clever. Our education becomes a means to an end – the boosting of our worth in the eyes of men – rather than to gain skills which enable us to serve the Lord and our fellow human beings.
We form new friendships. What sort of people will we be attracted to and what sort of influence will they have on us? Do we choose those with integrity, who hate evil or those who will be a source of temptation to us? Do we go for friends who are the type of people to indulge in the same sins that we feel attracted towards?
We seek a wife or a husband. Do we have discernment to see what sort of person they are, or do we only look on the surface? Can we see noble qualities of integrity, patience, kindness, love for God, or are we only attracted to the physical? The consequences will be enormous for us. If the marriage breaks down, we will bring guilt and much sorrow on ourselves.
We are married and we start a family. How will we bring up our children? Now we are in the business of profoundly affecting the lives of others. Will we spoil our children, set them a poor example, under-discipline or over-discipline them? The result will form the character of another human being which will follow them all their days on earth. Will they go astray and harm themselves bringing grief on their parents, or will they be wise and understand godly principles which will protect them from the pitfalls of life?
Do we want to know where to live? Perhaps we will follow our work wherever it leads or perhaps we will go with great self-confidence to a certain town and tell ourselves all that we are going to achieve, but because we have not submitted our plans to God or sought his guidance, because we go in our own strength and with an optimism born of ignorance, then we may suffer great disappointment.