Daily Jewel

by  Pastor J.R. Carnell,  OK 

“End of the Road” 

“Her house is a highway to the grave, leading down to the chambers of death. “ – Proverbs 7:27

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

                                                – Robert Frost

Have you ever come to a place where there was no where you could go?  It was literally the end of the road.

Recently I was asked to go visit an individual that lived about 25 miles from my house.  Now, to say she lived 25 miles does not tell the entire story.  If you were to take a map, draw a straight line from my house to hers then I would say yes, it would have been about 25 miles.  But getting to her house was not quite that simple.  There was absolutely no direct road from my house to hers.  There were at least 12 turns…and about a third of it was on dirt roads.  By the time I left my house to the point where her house was my odometer registered 52 miles.  And by the time I reached her house it was literally at the end of the road.  I could go no further!

How fitting that the last verse of this chapter describes perfectly the result of allowing the wrong passions to grab a hold of us and leading us to a place where there is no place to go!  The road ends there and so could your life.

What is even a greater distress is to know that so many take that same road—one after another follows the same path leading to the exact destructive end.  It is like going to the end of the road—a road that ends at the edge of a cliff—and instead of stopping before going over the precipice they keep on going…tumbling down into the abyss that is death.

The poem by Robert Frost talks about the “road less traveled by.”  Which perfectly describes the road that Jesus refers to as well in the book of Matthew.  I referenced it a couple of days ago but it fits here as well:

"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.” – Matthew 7:13

            Solomon’s advice, which has led us through most of this chapter, has been along this line.  This verse (and the message attached) not only concludes the chapter—it concludes life.   And he is imploring his readers to avoid taking this route and spare the most precious gift we are given—life.

            There are a number of ways we can self-destruct.  This is just one of them and if we can apply the same principle, that the “woman” in this passage represents not a person but a method—a means to an end that is not God’s way. 

            Stay on the right road.  Stay on the one that leads to life where the last stop is a glorious end!