Zeal and Hastiness

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"It is not good to have zeal without knowledge, nor to be hasty and miss the way." Proverbs 19:2

zeal (zēl) n. Enthusiastic devotion to a cause, ideal, or goal and tireless diligence in its furtherance. [emphasis mine] (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/zeal)

How many times have we let ourselves get fired up over a sermon that held little Scripture to support it's main focus, then petered out over the week? I think too often we look to motivational speeches to get our emotions and feelings high (giving us the illusion that we have true zeal), and then we wonder why we're not living joyful, abundant lives. I think the verse in Provers 19 tells us. Life is not good when you have zeal with no knowledge. We need to know the Truth, and we need to be reading His love story to us daily. Then we will know the direction to go with our zeal.

I think we also often are "hasty and miss the way." Recently I sensed God leading me to pursue a masters at a seminary. So I got all excited because now I had "new direction," and I got information from a local seminary, began asking local students what they thought about seminary and even started an online application! Long story made short, God said "not now." It's still something I would like to pursue, but I will only pursue it in God's timing. There have been many other times, too, when I sensed God leading me a certain direction and I got ahead of him.

It may seem like a -duh- issue, but Proverbs says this is not good! Easier said than done, right? I think we could also add to the Proverbs something like, "It is not easy to wait on God's timing, but it is better in the long run."

It probably already says that. I should go read all of Proverbs now... they're so smart! :-)

P.S. On an unrelated note, I just vomit-burped kolache. Also not good.