The reason they put blinders (blinkers) on racehorses is to keep them focused straight ahead. They follow the line of sight. In a lot of ways, so do we. Physically, it’s difficult to go in a different direction safely than the one in which we are looking. But also, internally, the things we focus on tend to set the direction we will go as well. Here, Solomon says not to let your heart turn in a destructive direction. His caution is for us: we tend to follow the direction our hearts lead. Maybe not at first, but gradually we stray in that direction. Before we know it, we’ve gone far down that path. Sometimes, we may feel like we’ve gone too far down the path to turn around. If we’re going in the wrong direction at the end of our life it will be too late to change. All of us were headed in the wrong direction until we encountered Christ. Something about the image of Him waiting for us or looking for us as we travel in the wrong direction is both comforting and telling. It’s comforting to know He’s always out looking for us, or at least waiting in those places of danger and vulnerability, ready to rescue and redeem. It’s also very telling that there is nowhere Jesus will not go to reach us, and perhaps, to some degree, no place we should not go to reach others with His message. Perhaps those are the places where we are needed even more. I do know people come to Christ through the church, but a whole lot more are looking for Him out there in the broken places of the world. Today, ask God where to go and let Him lead. #BeTheEdge
“I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak…” Ezekiel 34:16a NIV
