“God made man upright, But they have sought out many schemes” (Ecclesiastes 7:29, NKJV). This verse names a real gap between original design and current pattern. Uprightness was the starting point. Schemes came after.
That distinction matters. Our current complications and self-serving strategies aren’t how things were originally meant to be, they’re a departure from it.
This is worth remembering both about others and about ourselves. The scheming isn’t the deepest truth about a person. It’s a departure from something better underneath.
What scheme have you been quietly pursuing that this verse invites you to set aside in favor of the uprightness you were actually made for?