Many pains come to the wicked, but the one who trusts in the LORD will have faithful love surrounding him.
PSALM 32:10 (CSB)

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Stupid is a choice. More accurately, it is the compounding of multiple bad choices. One bad choice leads to another. My first-grade teacher, Miss Allen, taught us that when we tell one lie, we have to tell other lies to protect the first lie. She wasn’t lying. 

Too many times we think we have to be shrewd or manipulative to get what we want. King David had a better idea. He says in verse 9,

Do not be like a horse or mule,
without understanding,
that must be controlled with bit and bridle
or else it will not come near you.

In other words, don’t be stupid. Do not make bad choices. Learn self-control and self-discipline so that you do not have to be controlled or disciplined by others. 

What is the positive alternative? David tells us that as well. Listen to verse 8:

I will instruct you and show you the way to go;
with my eye on you, I will give counsel.

Our Father in heaven is more interested in giving us the right directions than we are in taking them. He keeps his eye on us. He is ready to share his wise counsel. 

How do we access God’s instruction and counsel? We ask. King David teaches us how to do that throughout the Book of Psalms. For example, Psalm 143:8 and 10 provide simple prayers that produce wonderful results.

Let me experience
your faithful love in the morning,
for I trust in you.
Reveal to me the way I should go
because I appeal to you. 

God’s directions are based on his love which seeks the highest good for each one of us. We can trust that whatever he says is right, just, fair, and good. Trust God. He will never lead us falsely. 

Ask him for clear direction. Ask him the way you should go. He loves to hear and answer these prayers more readily than we like to pray them. 

Teach me to do your will,
for you are my God.
May your gracious Spirit
lead me on level ground.

God is God and we are not. He sees what we cannot see. He knows what we do not know. His plans are better than ours. They are better for us and better for others. He removes the unnecessary bumps in our lives. 

Psalm 32:10 gives us a choice. We can live with the pains of our bad decisions, or we can follow God’s guidance and enjoy the pleasant delight of good consequences. 

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I will follow God’s guidance into the positive alternative pathway.

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Our Father, show me the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul. Amen.