Don't versus Do

I once saw a sign that read, "Obstacles are what you see when you take your eye off your goal." I think of it a bit differently: "Obstacles are what you see when you take your eyes off of your God." God says, "If righteous people turn away from their righteous behavior and ignore the obstacles I put in their way, they will die. And if you do not warn them, they will die in their sins. None of their righteous acts will be remembered..." (Ezekial 3:20)

Obstacles are part of life, but did you ever consider that they could be put there by God to keep us on a righteous path? Ignore them long enough and the path you take could be totally 'out of sync' with the path God has called us to walk. By definition, any obstacle is meant to act as a hindrance to going a certain way or doing a certain thing. It should present some form of 'disincentive' to choosing that route. 

Righteous people can ignore God's 'obstacles' - the things he clearly puts in our path that act as 'disincentives' for taking another path. Are all obstacles meant to keep us 'on the straight and narrow' then? I don't think the ones our enemy puts in our path are meant to do that, but the ones God puts there to help us make better choices are. How do we tell the difference between the two? This is where learning how God moves, acts, and what he desires comes in. We have to know his heart in order to clearly recognize the difference between an obstacle meant to help us and one meant to trap us or trip us up.

If we look closely at our passage today, we see that God loves us enough to give us 'roadblocks' against wrong behaviors. Instead of looking at every 'barrier' as a thing that interferes with our progress, we may begin to see them as the very things that help us make progress in the right direction. God's 'obstacles' don't lure us down a path - the clearly illuminate the path that should be taken and the one that should be avoided. What might some of these roadblocks or obstacles be? 

Perhaps it is a feeling that the path you are about to choose is 'just not right' - something just 'bugs' you when you consider choosing it. Maybe it is the words of a trusted companion in this walk who helps you see there are really two paths marked out - one much better than the other. Or could it be that a passage comes to mind from scripture, or a few words from a recent sermon, causing you to pause, consider, and choose wisely? Regardless of what God uses to help us choose the righteous path, the choice to follow it is ours. Just sayin!