Proverb 1:16

“For their feet run to evil,
and they make haste to shed blood.”

Hebrews 12:1-2a teaches us about the path that our feet were created for. “Therefore since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith” (emphases are mine).

Sin is a hinderance to the race we are in the midst of. It entangles us, with the goal to keep us from finishing.

Today’s Proverb says that the feet of sinners run to evil—the very thing we are called to do on a path that’s headed for a different destination. Run! The moment you set a toe on the trial that we are cautioned against, our feet set a perpetual pace and their stride grows with speed until we catch up to evildoers. Like a bike on a decline, we gain so much momentum that we are pressed forward with tremendous force even when we stop pedaling and want desperately to put an end to it all. “Their feet run to evil.”

It’s no wonder we are told to flee when we are offered a sea of rewards along the sinner’s trail. Despite the plethora of promises, though, the only objective on that path is to “make haste to shed blood.” The enemy will try to trick you into believing that there is comfort, joy, satisfaction, rest and peace along the way. He will cast an array of other illusions on the way. But he aims only to rob you of the good that the Lord has cultivated in you to use your desperate fingers to figuratively shed the blood of others along the way so that they, too, are hindered and entangled.

Keep the faith. Continue to trudge up steep inclines and dusty roads. I promise the reward at the end is far greater than the alternative:

“Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison…” He aims to hinder and ensnare you. “…that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful…” That is, be trustful, believing, faithful, sure and true, as the greek definition for “faithful” suggests. “Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.” (Revelation 2:10)