When you’re young, it seems like it takes almost forever to get old enough to have the freedom to make your own choices. It’s as though you have spent much time in Fair Havens. But don’t make the mistake of hurrying to get away from safe, godly environments, just so you can be on your own.
“The fast was now already past.” What does that mean? Simply put, as you grow older, there will come a time when parental and other Christian constraints are loosened. Those constraints are like a fast (a time when a person denies themselves something).
The very time when you begin to experience your new liberty (a time when you do not have to deny yourself anything you want) is one of the most dangerous points in your journey of life.
As long as there have been limits (a fast)—boundaries and rules of right and wrong—you’ve been, in a measure, kept from moving according to your own will. You may little realize the wickedness, sorrow and corruption of this present evil world from which those restraining influences have spared you. But now the fast is past and sailing according to your own will has become very dangerous.
Allow your parents, your brethren and, above all, the precious Word of God to admonish you as to the dangers that lie along life’s pathway.
Not only listen, but fully submit to the Word of God. And give prayerful attention to words of warning and advice you may receive from parents and godly brethren. Ever remember that “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction” (Prov. 1:77The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction. (Proverbs 1:7)).
From The Journey of Life (adapted)