There Was a Crooked Man...

(Proverbs 2:15 KJV)  Whose ways are crooked, and they froward in their paths:

This verse refers back to verse 11 where the thought starts. 

(Proverbs 2:11 KJV)  Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee:

It begins a list.  The list is about evil people and how discretion and understanding can protect us from them and their methods.  It teaches us how to recognize evil.

The evil walk on different “ways” (paths NASB) (734).  They may have similar goals to the righteous.  They may want to provide for their families, elect the right leaders, save the rain forests, whatever.  They are, however, willing to get there by methods that are not acceptable to believers. 

Their paths are “crooked” (6141).  This is a contrast to the “upright” of  verse 7.  Sometimes the only way that you can tell if something is crooked is by putting it close to something that is straight.  I built a small door to cover a hole in the wall at my daughter’s house.  It needed to be a door because we needed access to the breaker box behind it.  I have never built a door before, but in all humility, it came out pretty good.  After mounting it we noticed that the top and bottom were not the same distance from the wall.  I jokingly said that it was probably the wall that was crooked, it could not be my door.  One was crooked.  I guess it could have been both.  The only way to find out was to get a straight edge and compare.

I did not get a straight edge because I wanted to live in the illusion that I made a great door.  In this case it doesn’t make any difference, but in life it might.

So?  Look at how you are going to do things.  Hold your plan up to the standards of God.  It makes a difference.