Psalm 23:3 He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake. I tend to think of being stuck in a rut as a bad thing, but in this verse, it’s actually positive – except I’m not stuck. The word used for path in this verse is actually a track, more like a rut. Righteousness leaves deep prints for us to follow. God doesn’t sneak around leaving breadcrumbs for us to follow. He has an impact wherever He moves. These ruts are there to be seen and followed. Now, to find and follow those ruts, as opposed to tripping on them or ignoring them. Seen any good ruts lately?
Ps. 63: 8aI follow close behind you; David wrote this psalm when he was in the wilderness of Judah. Most of it is a psalm of praise and thanksgiving, despite the difficult circumstances that he was in. Anyhow, have you ever been walking in a crowd of people who were moving at a slower pace than you wanted? Did you strain and weave to move through them more quickly? Have you ever been on a narrow sidewalk when you were out walking with a friend? When a person approached going the other way, you had to drop behind them to let the other person pass by, right? Walking behind your friend wasn’t easy because you had to walk at his or her pace and you couldn’t really see what was coming up very well. So, when the passerby had passed by, you moved back up to walk side-by-side with your friend, right? The verse today made me think about these two situations. David says he follows close behind God. He doesn’t walk at His side or lead Him. Walking behind God we can learn several things: Walking at a slower pace: I tend to want to get there now. I don’t want to go too slowly, or I get antsy. Walking behind God means going at the pace that He sets, not me, and even though this may not be as fast as I want, it’s a better pace. Not seeing the final destination: I also want to see what’s going on ahead, to know where I’m going, and what’s coming down the road at me. Walking behind God means that I can’t really see all of these things. He can, and He promises to guard me and keep me safe. He promises that He knows the best path for me and will get me there safely. But, I have less control, I can’t really see and so I have to learn to trust God with my safety and with directions. I like to know what’s going to happen, but God asks me to give up that control and be content to follow him. Distractions: If I lolligag and hang behind God, either so I can see better (I think) or so I can try and weave around to go faster, then I get in trouble. In a crowd, it’s easy to get lost if I don’t stick close to the people I’m with. It’s also easier to get distracted when I can see more of what’s going past me. If I stick closely to God then most of my vision is Him. But if I hang back, I can see the things beside the path that might catch my eye and pull me off the path, stop my following, and ultimately cause trouble for me or hurt me. There are probably a lot more reasons why we should follow God closely but there were three that stuck out in my mind. To be like Christ, we must follow closely. It’s safer, and it teaches me to be more like Him. It’s certainly not easier. I like to be able to see things, I dislike walking in slow crowds, and I am easily distracted. However, God isn’t every wrong. He knows the way better than me. And, He knows the best path for my life. They say there are reasons why children’s games were invented. Maybe this is why we play “Follow the Leader.”
Proverbs 4: 27 – 29Look straight ahead, and fix your eyes on what lies before you. Mark out a straight path for your feet; then stick to the path and stay safe. Don’t get sidetracked; keep your feet from following evil. I’ve been listening to a sermon series by Andy Stanley and it’s about the paths we choose to walk. Each decision puts us on a path that has a destination. The problem is that we tend to see our decisions/choices as events instead of paths. Then when we make bad decisions and end up at a destination that we don’t like we’re confused. He uses a great example to make this point: it doesn’t matter how much you plan to go to Florida, pack for Florida, talk about how you’re going to go to Florida, if you get on I75 Northbound (from Atlanta) then you’ll never get to Florida. The road just doesn’t go there. Or another example that kind of hit home (reminding me of some earlier choices in my life): a girl says that she wants to marry a guy who loves Jesus and treats her well, but decides to date any guy who asks her out. Talk is cheap. The choices we make aren’t just events that effect one small moment of our lives. We have choices because we get distracted or at least in part because of what catches our attention. So that means we have to be extremely careful about what we allow to capture our attention. The reason for this is that where we look, we tend to go. Think about a horse with a bridle. If the horse turns its head to look that direction, it will go that way (usually). That’s what a bridle does – it turns the horse’s head. It’s similar when we drive (this is the illustration Andy Stanley uses). You have to be really careful looking at passing object or other cars because there’s a tendency to steer towards them. In these verses Solomon reminds us that we need to be careful what we fix our eyes on, not getting distracted by things that will turn our head and get us off course. He also reminds us that paths have destinations and we need to pick a path with a destination that we want. Then we must stick to the path and not get distracted and wander off the path. Those sidetracked paths have destinations, too. The problem is, you probably won’t like where any of them lead, and you may get stuck with only a few choices, and none of them will be good. I feel like in some ways I’ve gotten distracted, I’ve made choices that took me off the path I wanted for my life, and I’m stuck with very few choices now, none of which are good. It has affected me and my family, and that’s sad. This is a sermon I wish I’d heard a lot earlier, before the bad decisions were made (of course, they didn’t seem bad at the time, but I should have listened more carefully to the counsel of others who could see the path ahead more clearly). However, that being said, God is still a God of rescue and a God of hope. So, I will continue to trust Him to help us sort out this situation and get back on the path we want. Nothing is impossible with God.
Ecc 11:5 God’s ways are as hard to discern as the pathways of the wind and as mysterious as a tiny baby being formed in a mother’s womb. That pretty much sums it up. I have no idea what God is up to. But, I guess that’s why He is God and I’m not. We think we’re pretty smart. We use science to try and explain everything. And, science is good. However, no matter how much we try to explain God and the things in this world, no matter how much we learn and how much we can see, we will never figure His ways out. Maybe that’s why it seems so hard to walk in His ways. John and I really want to be on His path, in the middle of His plan, doing what He wants… but sometimes it seems like we’re walking in the dark and as lost as a child alone in a wild theme park. And this begs the question… Do you trust Me? … I choose to trust Him. I choose to keep stepping forward, trusting that He will be there to catch me. I choose to believe in Him even when I can’t see Him or feel Him or hear Him. I choose to raise my children to know Him. I choose to serve Him, not things or myself (at least to do my utmost in this area because as a human I will fail). I choose to seek Him – to know His character and to recognize His voice. So, yes. I suppose, in the end, I will trust You. I will never understand why You do the things You do or allow the circumstances You allow. I will never fully know Your ways or Your thoughts and motivations. But, if I believe ONE part of You – that You are who You say You are – God, Truth, Life – then I must also believe the other parts of You – Provider, Love, Father, Way. Do you trust Me?Before, I don’t know. Will you trust Me?Yes. So, Do you trust Me?Yes.