Jeremiah 10:23

My Notes

What Does Jeremiah 10:23 Mean?

Jeremiah confesses what every honest person knows: the way of man is not in himself. It's not in man to direct his own steps. The most basic human activity — walking, directing your own path — is beyond human capacity. You can't steer your own life. The ability to navigate doesn't reside in the navigator.

The word "direct" (kun — to establish, to make firm, to set up) means to stabilize the direction. Jeremiah isn't saying humans can't walk. He's saying humans can't walk straight. The capacity to establish a reliable, firm, consistent direction for your life doesn't exist in you. You need external guidance. Without it, the path curves.

The confession follows naturally from the observation of human history in Jeremiah's time: the wisest people made the worst decisions. The most capable leaders led toward destruction. The evidence was overwhelming: humans, left to direct themselves, direct themselves wrong.

Reflection Questions

• 1.Can you honestly say 'the way of man is not in himself' — or do you still believe you can navigate your own life?
• 2.Where has self-directed navigation led you off course — and did you recognize it before or after the fact?
• 3.How does this confession (I can't steer) prepare you to receive God's direction?
• 4.Does Jesus' claim 'I am the way' directly answer Jeremiah's confession that 'the way is not in man'?

Devotional

The way of man is not in himself. You can't direct your own steps. The steering mechanism you think you have doesn't work.

Jeremiah's confession is the most humbling admission in the prophets: I know — I KNOW — that I can't navigate my own life. The capacity to chart a reliable course, to walk a straight path, to direct my steps toward the right destination — it doesn't exist inside me. The way isn't in myself.

"Not in man that walketh to direct his steps" — the walking happens. You move forward. You take steps. But the direction? The directing? That's the part you can't do. You can generate motion. You can't generate accurate motion. Left to yourself, you drift. You curve. You wander. The step is possible. The direction is not.

This is the confession that makes guidance possible: until you admit you can't steer, you won't ask for steering. As long as you believe the navigation is in yourself, you'll refuse the Navigator. The person who says "I know the way" is the person who gets lost. The person who says "the way is not in myself" is the person who finds the Guide.

The evidence was all around Jeremiah: the wisest people in Judah had directed the nation toward Babylon. The most capable leaders had steered into judgment. The most confident navigators had led everyone off the cliff. And the common denominator was the assumption that the way was in themselves.

Proverbs says it differently: "there is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death" (14:12). Jeremiah's confession agrees: the way that seems right is the way that curves. The steps that feel directed are the steps that wander. Because the directing capacity doesn't reside in the walker.

Admit it. The way is not in you. And ask the one in whom the way IS — Jesus said "I am the way" (John 14:6) — to direct your steps.

Commentary

Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.

Cross References

Related passages throughout Scripture