The ways of the Lord are right.

The righteous walk in them, but the rebellious stumble in them. Hosea 14 verse nine it is with this thought that the prophet Hosea closes.

His the ways of the Lord are right.

It is simply stated, no debate, no question, no argument, just a plain and simple fact.

The ways of the Lord are right.

And the wise, he says, the righteous not only talk the talk, but but also walk the walk, living by God's rules there are some, however, who simply do not want to accept that God's ways are right. They choose not to live by God's rules.

As a result, everywhere they go, they trip over the ways of the Lord. They trip over his laws, his rules.

And his ways because they can't avoid them no matter where they go.

The ways of the Lord are obstacles.

That they must try to get around or over. God's laws are like traffic signals, roadblocks, and speed bumps. A few years ago I went outside one morning to find the front end of my neighbors car completely destroyed. Curious, I asked what on earth had happened. My neighbor said that she was driving home the night before and didnt see a speed bump that city crews had built in the road. She was going way too fast when she hit the speed bump, resulting in hundreds of dollars worth of damage to her car.

The ways of the Lord are speed.

Bumps that exist by the grace of God. They exist to challenge rebellious souls and slow their decline into even greater sin. God doesn't give us rules to punish us, but to protect us. They are there for our own good. They are not intended to harm us, but to keep us from harm. Yes, they are prohibitive in some ways, keeping us from having complete freedom of movement and doing what we want to do as though we make the rules. Yes, they do slow us down and get in our way at times, but they are in the way to hold sin in check, to warn us, and to make us think how hard it actually is to do things our way instead of doing things his way. Because no matter how hard we try, we will never, never win that war. Hosea leaves a question hanging in the air, a question each of us must ask and answer. Are we going to follow God's rules, or are we going to find ourselves constantly stumbling over them?

The ways of the Lord are right.

He says, and the righteous will choose to walk in them.

This has been your thought for the day with Steve Burkham, pastor of Community Christian Church in Stockton, California. If you have questions or comments for Pastor Steve, please send them to dailythoughtspodcastmail.com have a great day and we hope youll join us tomorrow as Pastor Steve opens gods word to bring us another thought for the day.