Dangerously Right — Proverbs 3:7

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Proverbs 3:7 Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil.

Isaiah 5:21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and shrewd in their own sight.

What it is speaking to me:

Being "right" is not all it's cracked up to be. Christians can often be just as bad, if not worse, than the world about doing this. It sounds like a bold claim, but come along with me for a minute.

Christians ARE right about ONE really important thing: the gospel. They have made the right decision to give their lives to the Lord, to surrender their will and follow Jesus. That right decision is the most important decision they will ever make, and in many theological senses, they are eternally RIGHT for it. They also avoid eternal damnation, which adds to the weight of this "right" decision.

But I wonder if that really, really important and eternally significant right decision can start them down a "right" path that leads to something "not right." They start to learn more. And more. They go to churches that teach them what is "right"—and worse, maybe, that "everyone else is wrong." That thought, spoken or unspoken, speaks volumes.

After years of learning in Sunday services and small groups, they head off to seminary to really learn what is RIGHT. And boy, do they. They learn all the nuances of right, and how righteous they can become in being right. They get to be so right that their "right" systematic theology, if they were being intellectually honest, imposes itself on their God. And I say "their God" because any God who fits inside a man-made system of theology is not a God I know.

What went wrong? They got SO much right! Maybe that is the problem. They got so much right, they got dangerously right. This is what this morning's verses are describing: a person who is dangerously right is someone who has acquired more knowledge than fear of the Lord. They have become so right, they have lost their awe.

They lost the ability to question, to doubt what they think they know, to leave room for error. Not doubts about God, but doubts about their own intellectual prowess! They have gotten so right, they are wrong. Solomon was the most "right" man to have ever lived, my goodness he wrote one of the verses above! And yet, he lost his awe and stopped worshipping God the way he was supposed to. Did he get too right? Dangerously right?

I need to revere the Lord. I must never think I have "arrived" at the last stop of "right." I am fallible; I can (and should) not know everything. I try to be as "right" as I can in my study, my knowledge, and my pursuit of the things of God—while the whole time acknowledging that He is bigger, greater. He denies us full understanding this side of heaven, maybe to keep us from being dangerously right here on earth.

What is it saying to you?

What have you been dangerously right about?

How do you avoid these pitfalls?

What are we going to do about it?

In whatever pursuit of knowledge you are chasing right now, stop for a moment today and put a mark of humility on your heart. Confess your fear of the Lord to Him. He is greater.