“The highway of the upright is to depart from evil; he who keeps his way preserves his soul…The way of the lazy man is like a hedge of thorns, but the way of the upright is a highway” (Proverbs 16:17, 15:19).
In Africa when you travel from Livingstone, Zambia out to a place in the bush called Siambafumba, you drive on “the black road”, a paved two-lane highway, for about an hour. Then, you turn onto a “road” which has been washed out during the previous decades of flash floods which arose during the rainy season. Since this has happened repeatedly, there is usually two or three versions of the “road” to drive on.
The driver is constantly choosing which washed out version of the “road” he thinks will provide the least amount of damage to the vehicle and minimal discomfort to the passengers. After about seventy-five to ninety minutes of swerving from one wash-out to the next, you then come to a path. It is only wide enough for one vehicle and is made of compacted sand. Because it is sand, there are fewer ruts, but there is very little room for swerving when they are in your line of travel. Therefore, when you come to a washed-out portion, your primary concern is to keep your vehicle upright.
On the return trip, your goal is to get to “the black road” before the sun sets. No sane person wants to be trying to navigate the washed out “road” in the dark.
Living unrighteously is like traveling on the “road” after dark. Life is one jarring jolt after another. No so, for the righteous. Living uprightly is like the black top road. There is peace. There is spiritual safety.
The upright depart from evil and enjoy the many blessings which come from traveling on “the Highway of Holiness” (Is. 35:8).
