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Allow Nothing to Harm Your Relationship with God

Proverbs 4:27 Updated American Standard Version (UASV)
²⁷Do not turn to the right nor to the left;
turn your foot from evil.

Do not turn to the right nor to the left: The Hebrew for turn (nā·ṭā(h)) means to change direction or to deviate from a straight-line course, namely, turning or deviating off the path of life. If the son is busy being sidetracked by Satan, “the god of this world” (2 Cor. 4:4), he will be lost “the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life, [which] is not from the Father but is from the world.” (1 John 2:15-17) If the son wanders carelessly, it is only a matter of time before he turns his attention to the bright lights of Satan’s world to the right or to the left, which may very well stumble him off the path of life.

Turn your foot from evil: The Hebrew (שׂוּר sur) means to cause to turn away or direct away from something, and in this case, it is something that is bad or evil. Clearly, the son must turn his foot from anything contrary to the father’s words and sayings; anything that he knows is unacceptable to the father’s standards. So, we to, like the son, avoid anything that violates the standards of the Father that we know is bad. Still, we also carefully consider, weigh, and ponder anything that we suspect might not be good for us and harm our relationship with the Father. The counsel is that ‘our eyes look directly forward, and our gaze is straight before us.’ According to Scripture, if we keep our eyes fixed on the path of carrying out the Father’s will and purposes, we will not be enticed by the things alongside the path. As we make life-changing decisions, we must see these as possibly stepping off the path, and they must be carefully considered, as nothing but evil lies to the right and the left of the path of our Father.

Undoubtedly, God’s servants must eliminate, that is, cast off any entertainment they know is objectionable to him. Yet, what do they do about any entertainment they are uncertain about? This is when they need to be most cautious. One can look at it like walking on a path alongside a mountain. Is it wise to walk right alongside the edge? Certainly not! Only those with very little value in their life, seeking immediate gratification, would do so. God’s people value the gift of life, so they would walk closer to the wall of the mountain. We can apply this analogy to our entertainment. In the above Proverbs 4:27, we are told, “turn your foot from evil.” Therefore, we rightly turn away from what we can see as evil or wrong, but we also turn away from any entertainment that we are uncertain if it is not for us and may very well ruin our relationship with God.