The Inevitable Splinters of a Crooked Path Text: Proverbs 22:5
Introduction: Two Ways, Two Destinies
The book of Proverbs is relentlessly practical. It does not float in the misty highlands of abstract thought; it gets down into the dust and gravel of our daily decisions. And at the heart of this practical wisdom is a fundamental, unyielding distinction, the great continental divide of the human race. There are two ways to walk. There is the way of the wise, and the way of the fool. There is the straight path, and there is the crooked path. There is the way of life, and the way of death. There is no third way, no scenic bypass, no comfortable middle ground for the spiritually noncommittal.
Our modern sensibilities chafe at this. We want a world of nuance without absolutes, a spectrum of grays without the stark contrast of black and white. But God, who designed reality, tells us that when it comes to the ultimate trajectory of a man's life, there are only two directions. You are either walking toward God, or you are walking away from Him. You are either submitting to the grain of His created order, or you are trying to jam the machinery by walking against it.
This proverb before us today is a sharp, potent distillation of this reality. It is a warning sign posted at a fork in the road. One direction is marked as the way of the crooked, and the sign warns of the hazards: thorns and snares. The other is the path for the one who keeps his soul, and the sign promises safety and distance from those same hazards. The choice seems obvious, yet countless multitudes, from Solomon's time to ours, choose the path of pain. Why? Because the crooked path is baited with the promise of autonomy, the lie that you can be your own god, defining good and evil for yourself. This proverb reminds us that such a path is not a path of freedom, but a trail of self-impalement.
The Text
Thorns and snares are in the way of the crooked;
He who keeps his soul will be far from them.
(Proverbs 22:5 LSB)
The Painful Path of Perversity (v. 5a)
The first clause lays out a simple, observable fact of life:
"Thorns and snares are in the way of the crooked;" (Proverbs 22:5a)
The "crooked" here is the man who is twisted, perverse, and morally distorted. His way is not straight; it deviates from the plumb line of God's law. Think of it this way: God's law is the architect's blueprint for human flourishing. It is the owner's manual for the human machine. The crooked man is one who has crumpled up the blueprint and is trying to build his life based on scribbles he made on a napkin. He is pouring sand in the gas tank and wondering why the engine is seizing up.
And what is the result of this crookedness? The path is not smooth. It is not a pleasant, grassy meadow. It is filled with "thorns and snares." This is covenantal language. When Adam sinned, what was the curse on the ground? "Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you" (Genesis 3:18). Thorns are the native vegetation of a cursed world. They represent the constant, irritating, painful friction that comes from living out of fellowship with God. They are the natural consequences of sin. The liar gets caught in a web of his own lies, and every new lie is another thorn he has to step over. The adulterer finds his family life shredded, full of the thorns of jealousy, bitterness, and heartbreak. The lazy man finds his finances choked with the thorns of debt and want.
These are not arbitrary punishments zapped from heaven. They are the natural, organic consequences of walking against the grain of reality. It is like trying to pet a cat from tail to head; you are going to get scratched, and it is the cat's fault only in the sense that it was designed to be a cat. The universe was designed to run on righteousness. When you introduce sin, you get friction. You get thorns.
But it is not just thorns; there are also "snares." A thorn is a painful irritant you can see. A snare is a hidden trap designed for your destruction. The crooked man is not just dealing with the predictable pains of his sin; he is also blundering into catastrophic traps. The snare is the addiction that suddenly has him by the throat. It is the business deal, built on a foundation of minor compromises, that suddenly collapses into ruin and disgrace. It is the foolish friendship that leads him into a crime he never thought he would commit. The devil baits these traps with the world's favorite lures, pleasure, power, and pride, and the crooked man, blinded by his own crookedness, walks right in.
The Wise Preservation of the Soul (v. 5b)
The second clause presents the glorious contrast, the way of escape.
"He who keeps his soul will be far from them." (Proverbs 22:5b LSB)
This is a beautiful and active phrase: "He who keeps his soul." The Hebrew word for "keeps" is shomer, which means to guard, to watch over, to protect, to preserve. It is the word used for a watchman on the city wall, vigilantly scanning the horizon for threats. It is the word used for a shepherd guarding his flock from predators. Keeping your soul is not a passive activity. It is not spiritual coasting. It is a diligent, active, moment-by-moment guardianship.
What does it mean to "keep your soul"? It means to guard your heart, for from it flow the springs of life (Proverbs 4:23). It means guarding what you look at, what you listen to, who you associate with. It means taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5). It means understanding that your soul is the most valuable thing you possess, the seat of your identity, the part of you that will live forever. The crooked man is careless with his soul; he trades it for a pot of stew, for a moment of pleasure, for the approval of fools. The wise man knows his soul is a treasure entrusted to him by God, and he guards it fiercely.
And what is the result of this diligent watch-care? He "will be far from them." He will be far from the thorns and snares. This does not mean the Christian life is free from all trouble. We live in a fallen world, and the rain falls on the just and the unjust. But the man who keeps his soul avoids the self-inflicted wounds, the needless pains, the destructive traps that are the direct and inevitable consequence of crooked living. He is not constantly nursing thorn-pricked feet. He is not constantly trying to chew his own leg off to get out of a snare.
His path is the straight path, the path of righteousness. And because it is straight, he can see the dangers ahead. Wisdom gives him discernment. He sees the snare the world has disguised as a party, and he gives it a wide berth. He recognizes the thorny bush of bitterness for what it is and refuses to get entangled in it. His life is not characterized by chaos and constant crisis management, but by a steady, forward progress down a path that is cleared by wisdom and paved with peace.
Walking the Straight Path in a Crooked World
So the proverb presents us with a stark choice. A crooked path of pain, or a straight path of peace. The way of the fool, or the way of the wise. How do we ensure we are on that second path?
First, we must recognize that we are all born crooked. We are born with a heart that is deceitful above all things and desperately sick (Jeremiah 17:9). Our natural inclination is to wander off the straight path and into the thorny thickets. We do not naturally guard our souls; we naturally neglect them. This is why the first step onto the straight path is not a step of self-improvement, but a step of repentance and faith.
We need a Savior who walked the path perfectly. Jesus Christ is the only man who ever walked a perfectly straight line from birth to death. And on the cross, He took upon Himself the thorns and snares that our crookedness deserved. He wore the crown of thorns, the very symbol of the curse, so that we could be blessed. He fell into the snare of death, so that we could be set free.
To keep your soul, you must first entrust your soul to the Keeper of souls. You must come to Christ and confess your crookedness. When you do, He not only forgives you, but He also gives you His Spirit to begin the work of straightening you out. Sanctification is the process by which God smooths out our crooked ways and teaches us to walk in His straight paths.
This means that guarding our souls is not a grim, white-knuckled effort done in our own strength. It is a joyful dependence on the grace of God. We guard our souls by steeping them in the Word of God, which is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path (Psalm 119:105). It illuminates the snares before we step in them. We guard our souls through prayer, calling upon our heavenly Father for the wisdom and strength to navigate the thorny places. We guard our souls through fellowship with the saints, where we can warn one another of dangers and encourage one another to stay on the path.
Conclusion
The choice is simple, but it is not easy. The crooked path is broad and well-trafficked. It appeals to our pride and our appetites. The straight path is narrow, and few find it. But one path is littered with the wreckage of broken lives, a painful trail of thorns and snares. The other is the path of life, of wisdom, and of peace.
Do not be deceived. The way of transgression is hard. The way of wickedness is a brutal grind. Every sin leaves a scar, a splinter, a thorn in the soul. But the way of the righteous is a highway. It is the path that shines ever brighter until the full day.
Therefore, look to your path. Are you walking straight? Are you guarding your soul as a watchman guards a city? Or have you been wandering, getting tangled and trapped? Repent of your crookedness. Flee to Christ, the one who makes crooked places straight. And by His grace, learn to walk in the freedom and safety of the straight path, far from the thorns and snares, all the way to the Celestial City.