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What You Didn’t Do Did It
Proverbs 5:23
For lack of discipline they will die, led astray by their own great folly.
Proverbs Daily is a reader and listener supported program. Every post is free, but if you’d like to help spread the message and make the sacred positively contagious consider being a free or paid subscriber. Just look for the word upgrade or subscribe and click on that. Thanks in advance!
🚧 The Bridges to Nowhere
Ever heard of a “Bridge to Nowhere”? Turns out, there are actually two of them.
* Alaska: Congress approved over $200 million to connect the town of Ketchikan to its island airport. Problem? The island only had about 50 residents. The project got scrapped, but not before they built… are you ready for this: a literal road to nowhere.
* California: In the San Gabriel Mountains, a bridge was built in 1936 for a highway. But a flood in 1938 wiped out the road project, so the bridge was left stranded in the wilderness — majestic, but useless.
Two bridges, two grand beginnings, but no real follow-through. And that’s not just a civic engineering issue. That’s a human issue.
🏗️ Remember The Tower of Babel?
Humanity set out to build a tower to the heavens. They had momentum, they laid out the vision, they had the energy. But then came a simple but critical fracture — language confusion, disconnection.
They stopped.
Their work unraveled not just because of what they did, but because of what they couldn’t continue doing together.
👉 What they didn’t do… did it.
📖 Proverbs 5:23 states:
“For lack of discipline they will die, led astray by their own great folly.”
Think about it: most of us don’t crash out because of one massive, obvious mistake. It’s the little gaps. The disciplines we don’t practice. Follow-throughs we don’t stick with.
👉It Was What you Didn’t Do…that’s what did it.
🔄 Disconnection = Danger
And like the Tower of Babel story, or the Bridges to Nowhere, lack of discipline is the real disconnect. Discipline is about integration — aligning your head, your heart, your hands, and your feet.
When you say in your mind, “I’m going to do this” but never move your body to follow through, that’s disembodiment. And living disconnected like that eventually builds a dangerous pattern — a routine of saying things that you don’t even believe yourself.
“I’m gonna read that book.” “I’m gonna walk a mile.” “I’m gonna pay more attention to my spouse.”
But without follow-through? It’s just noise. That’s when, as Proverbs says, you’re “led astray by your own great foolishness.”
What if foolishness is like a broken GPS? You sense you’re veering off course, but pride, stubbornness, or even ignorance (literally the art of ignoring) keeps you barreling ahead. That “full-steam-without-questioning” mindset isn’t wisdom. It’s folly in disguise.
Wisdom always leaves room for pause, reflection, questions, and correction.
If you don’t question yourself, you can’t course-correct!
And there it is again: what you didn’t do–did it.
* The discipline you didn’t practice did it.
* The questions you didn’t ask did it.
* The follow-through you didn’t commit to did it.
* Wisdom calls us to embodied living — syncing up thought and action, conviction and consistency.
Bottom Line:
Discipline isn’t punishment — it’s “costly connection”. And if you don’t do it… it will do you in.
🙏🏽 Prayer
I choose discipline today—may my actions follow my heart.
💡 Today’s Challenge:
Focus on one thing you’ve said you’d do but haven’t. Then, take one small embodied action today.
Hands and feet. Head and heart. One beat, one move forward.
About the Author
Fred Lynch is a creative communicator, author, and Christian Hip Hop pioneer. To learn more about Fred and what he’s up to now…click here or you can find him in all the socials by searching the handle: heyfredlynch
📱Experience Proverbs Daily by Subscribing!
Ready to receive daily wisdom directly on your phone?
Go to proverbsdaily.org for the app or just click that Subscribe button right now!
Be Wise and Be Well...peace.
Thanks for reading Proverbs Daily! This post is public so feel free to share it.
Get full access to Hey Fred Lynch! at heyfredlynch.substack.com/subscribe
View all episodes
By Daily Wisdom, Community Growth, Under 5 Minutes.Proverbs 5:23
For lack of discipline they will die, led astray by their own great folly.
Proverbs Daily is a reader and listener supported program. Every post is free, but if you’d like to help spread the message and make the sacred positively contagious consider being a free or paid subscriber. Just look for the word upgrade or subscribe and click on that. Thanks in advance!
🚧 The Bridges to Nowhere
Ever heard of a “Bridge to Nowhere”? Turns out, there are actually two of them.
* Alaska: Congress approved over $200 million to connect the town of Ketchikan to its island airport. Problem? The island only had about 50 residents. The project got scrapped, but not before they built… are you ready for this: a literal road to nowhere.
* California: In the San Gabriel Mountains, a bridge was built in 1936 for a highway. But a flood in 1938 wiped out the road project, so the bridge was left stranded in the wilderness — majestic, but useless.
Two bridges, two grand beginnings, but no real follow-through. And that’s not just a civic engineering issue. That’s a human issue.
🏗️ Remember The Tower of Babel?
Humanity set out to build a tower to the heavens. They had momentum, they laid out the vision, they had the energy. But then came a simple but critical fracture — language confusion, disconnection.
They stopped.
Their work unraveled not just because of what they did, but because of what they couldn’t continue doing together.
👉 What they didn’t do… did it.
📖 Proverbs 5:23 states:
“For lack of discipline they will die, led astray by their own great folly.”
Think about it: most of us don’t crash out because of one massive, obvious mistake. It’s the little gaps. The disciplines we don’t practice. Follow-throughs we don’t stick with.
👉It Was What you Didn’t Do…that’s what did it.
🔄 Disconnection = Danger
And like the Tower of Babel story, or the Bridges to Nowhere, lack of discipline is the real disconnect. Discipline is about integration — aligning your head, your heart, your hands, and your feet.
When you say in your mind, “I’m going to do this” but never move your body to follow through, that’s disembodiment. And living disconnected like that eventually builds a dangerous pattern — a routine of saying things that you don’t even believe yourself.
“I’m gonna read that book.” “I’m gonna walk a mile.” “I’m gonna pay more attention to my spouse.”
But without follow-through? It’s just noise. That’s when, as Proverbs says, you’re “led astray by your own great foolishness.”
What if foolishness is like a broken GPS? You sense you’re veering off course, but pride, stubbornness, or even ignorance (literally the art of ignoring) keeps you barreling ahead. That “full-steam-without-questioning” mindset isn’t wisdom. It’s folly in disguise.
Wisdom always leaves room for pause, reflection, questions, and correction.
If you don’t question yourself, you can’t course-correct!
And there it is again: what you didn’t do–did it.
* The discipline you didn’t practice did it.
* The questions you didn’t ask did it.
* The follow-through you didn’t commit to did it.
* Wisdom calls us to embodied living — syncing up thought and action, conviction and consistency.
Bottom Line:
Discipline isn’t punishment — it’s “costly connection”. And if you don’t do it… it will do you in.
🙏🏽 Prayer
I choose discipline today—may my actions follow my heart.
💡 Today’s Challenge:
Focus on one thing you’ve said you’d do but haven’t. Then, take one small embodied action today.
Hands and feet. Head and heart. One beat, one move forward.
About the Author
Fred Lynch is a creative communicator, author, and Christian Hip Hop pioneer. To learn more about Fred and what he’s up to now…click here or you can find him in all the socials by searching the handle: heyfredlynch
📱Experience Proverbs Daily by Subscribing!
Ready to receive daily wisdom directly on your phone?
Go to proverbsdaily.org for the app or just click that Subscribe button right now!
Be Wise and Be Well...peace.
Thanks for reading Proverbs Daily! This post is public so feel free to share it.
Get full access to Hey Fred Lynch! at heyfredlynch.substack.com/subscribe