Proverbs 4:6a  Do not forsake wisdom, and she will protect you;

In the summer of 2007 I got to spend a month in Afghanistan.  Among other things, the organization I was with had medical centers and community centers out in the rural areas – in places we would describe as the middle of nowhere.  We were visiting these locations and sometimes would ride for hours to get there on these incredibly bumpy paths that were loosely called roads.

A major goal was to bring medical care to areas that had never had any.  Afghanistan had the highest maternal and infant mortality rates of any county.  One medical center served 57 villages and many villagers would walk for hours to get there.  In the preceding 6 months, there had been 50 babies born there with all mothers and babies surviving!  As we were driving to get to this particular center, I noticed that in various places along side the road there were small stones every few yards that had a brush-stroke of paint on them.  There were sections of the road where the paint was red and other sections where the paint was white.

When we got to the medical center I asked Dan, the organization’s leader what was the meaning of the painted rocks that we encountered in different places along side the road.  His answer got my attention. Afghanistan had experienced years and years of war.  Many areas were minefields where these explosive devices had been planted.  The white stones indicated fields that the military had ‘swept’, meaning they had been cleared of the mines.  The red stones indicated fields that had not been swept free of mines.  To walk in those areas marked by the red stones would likely result in serious injury or death.  No matter where we were going it’s amazing how easy it was to notice any red stones and avoid those areas.

God’s word and His wisdom will do the very same thing for us in our daily life.  He tells us what to avoid and where it is safe to go.  The more we listen and walk with Him the easier it is for us to spot danger areas where he has ‘red stones’ in plain view warning us not to go there.  In fact His Spirit within us will even point them out to us if we are missing the obvious.  His wisdom will protect us and keep us safe but we must listen to it and not forsake it.