Focus
By Anthony Casperson
8-1-26

The timer starts, and the player has to reach some area before it runs out. Obviously there are going to be obstacles in the way. Enemies come in for potshots. And there’s a tricky path ahead of the video game character.

Most often, this setup is just an annoying little minigame that takes a couple of tries for me. But what I really hate about some of these occasions is when there’s a tricky maze with a narrow path that twists all sorts of angles. You need precise control of the directional control stick to not fall off and die.

If there were no timer, I would have the character stop at the point where the path takes a new direction, reset the camera directly behind them, and then press forward on their movement control. Then at the next twist, repeat the process. But because of the timer, there’s no chance to realign the camera’s focus.

As a matter of fact, I tend to always use the camera control stick to have my character go right or left, while just pressing perfectly forward on the movement control. I like to focus on the direction I’m going, so that I know whether or not there’s an obstacle or enemy ahead of my actual path.

When we don’t set our focus on the correct landmark, the chances of deadly things happening increases.

This is true not only of video games, but also our lives. And Proverbs 4:20-27, our passage this week during this summer blog series through the first nine chapters of the book, speaks of it in our lives of pursuing wisdom.

Obviously, because wisdom is the main pursuit in this book, it is wisdom that should stand as our landmark for focus. The fear of Yahweh—the proper regard toward our God and Creator—is where our camera should be pointing as we push forward on the path.

So it’s only natural for verses 20-23 to remind us to focus on the words of wisdom so that we might find life and healing. But we shouldn’t sigh at this refrain, and call for some other lesson to happen. The focus on wisdom is of such importance that it bears repeating.

Verse 20 even has a double call for us to actually pay attention to this. Listen carefully. Really turn your ear to hear this reminder without any obstacle in the way. Don’t let all of the reminders harden your mind to the truth. Truly focus on the words, for they are the very guiding wisdom we should set as our waymarkers.

Solomon then tells his son—and us—to not let the words escape our sight. Keep the camera trained on them. Let the words of wisdom be as core to our being as our heart is. The fear of Yahweh that guides us to be more and more like him should be so core to us that we wouldn’t want to alter our path.

But why? What’s so important about this setting of our focus on the words of wisdom and the fear of the Lord?

Verses 22-23 show us the reasons. These words are life for those who find it. This wisdom is healing to those who allow its balm to soothe. This fear of the Yahweh is a boundary line, a watery border marker, from which our lives find their furthest limit.

While serving God well doesn’t automatically mean the longest life possible, it does provide a meaningful and complete life. We can look at the trials and difficulties of life as something more than being a victim of circumstances. It gives us purpose and direction.

In those moments where people find themselves in survival mode, the worst thing they can do is give up the hope of purpose and direction. As soon as that hope dies, the fate of the person who is lost is pretty much set for the same end.

A focus on purpose makes the difficulties easier to bear. And the greatest purpose for one who follows Jesus is the fear of Yahweh.

That’s why we should guard our heart with all vigilance. Because our life’s extent and contents are deeply tied to the hope that springs forth out of it. Wisdom might seem like such a small thing, but it is the landmark drawing us to purpose.

Because of this life-giving hope of purpose and direction, we should also realize the truth of the second half of the passage. Misdirecting our focus leads to death and disaster. Not paying attention to where the camera is pointed makes it that much more likely that we’ll fall or be attacked by an enemy that was witnessed too late.

Solomon, in verse 24, specifically uses the idea of crookedness and deviation as the opposing perspective. Literally, the Hebrew says, “Turn aside from the crookedness of mouth.” And similarly the second half of the verse says, “The deviation of lips, send far away from you.”

To turn aside from crookedness tells us that the path should still be straight forward. To turn from a turn is to not turn at all. And likewise, to put deviation far from us shows a direct road ahead.

But also notice how the unfocused swerving of foolishness is connected to a person’s own words. Out of the mouth and lips come the deadly deviations. When we listen to our own words, rather than the words of wisdom, we place ourselves in precarious positions.

This is because when our heart overrides the words of wisdom, the selfishness of fallen humanity is our only guiding marker. And humanity’s sin will always lead to death.

If we listen to the later words of Jesus, we can see the connection between words and hearts more clearly. In Matthew 12:34-37, Jesus says that the mouth speaks out of the abundance of the heart. The words we speak betray the direction of our hearts. The treasure we focus on—whether good or evil—bubbles out of our mouths as proof of our focus in direction. And our words will either show our justified state or condemn us to eternal death.

Jesus also says later, in Matthew 15:18-19, that it is what comes out of a person’s mouth that defiles them. Or we could say, the defilement of our heart is proven by the words of evil that comes out of it.

Our eyes set our focus, but out mouths prove which words our heart holds as central in our lives.

So that our mouths might sing forth the praise of the God we fear, we should put our focus directly forward toward wisdom. The straight path toward righteousness should be where we set our gaze.

When we consider the path ahead of us, direct the camera that way, and don’t swerve to the right or left, then we have the greatest chance to keep our feet from all sorts of evil. We find a good and level path that won’t leave us dropping to our doom, when we set our focus on the words of wisdom.

The question for us is what is our focus in life? Is it the godliness that Jesus portrayed and the Holy Spirit enlivens us to reach for? Or is it something else?

Our answer to that question is most easily seen when we consider the words we say. How many of our vocalizations through the day are encouraging and edifying? How much time do we spend praising God? And how much cursing others? Are the words of godly wisdom ever passing our lips at all? Or have the veering words of the world’s wants and desires invaded our hearts so much that it overflows out of our own mouths?

Listen to the words. Seek wisdom. And keep it in our hearts so that it guides us straight ahead on the path toward godliness. Otherwise, we’ll find ourselves falling off the narrow mazes we’ve wandered onto.

Our focus determines our direction. Let’s keep it pointed at the right thing.