There is a way which seemeth right unto a man .....

"There is a way which seemeth right unto a man; but the end thereof are the ways of death. " Proverb 14:12

    Twice in the book of Proverbs (14:12 and 16:25) we learn that man's judgment as to the right way is not reliable. What seems right to him ends in disaster and death.

    During World War II the Navy gave a vivid
illustration of this to its flight personnel. It was trying to impress
on them that when they were flying at high altitudes and did not use
their oxygen, they could not trust their senses. A pilot was instructed
to enter a decompression chamber and sit down at a table on which was a
sheet of mathematical problems. Oxygen was withdrawn from the chamber
to simulate high altitudes. When the air became less dense, the pilot
was told to solve the problems. He was also told that no one had done
so correctly so far.

    The pilot would breeze through the problems with
utmost confidence that he had beaten the system. The problems seemed
easy, and he had every assurance that he would receive a perfect score.
There was no doubt in his mind about it.

    But when oxygen was fed back into the chamber,
and he emerged to have his paper corrected, he learned that his ability
to solve problems had been seriously impaired by the lack of oxygen
getting to his brain. The lesson was, of course, that if he flew at
high altitudes without using his oxygen, he wouldn't be able to trust
his own judgment, and he would be inviting a crash.

    Man's judgment has been seriously impaired by
sin. He feels absolutely sure that the way to heaven is by doing the
best he can. If you tell him that no one has ever been saved by good
works, he still has every confidence that he will be the first to beat
the system. He is certain that God would never turn him away from the
gates of heaven.