Pathways

 

"I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you. Do not be like a senseless horse or mule that needs a bit and bridle to keep it under control." -Psalm 32:8-9

 

 

God is so often thought of as a big, overbearing being who couldn't possibly care about the small details of our lives. He is the opposite. He wants to guide us and advise us on our pathway of life. He didn't create us and then abandon us to walk this path alone. The only way to walk the path we were truly meant for is to follow God's gentle guidance. Sometimes He is forced to discipline us to get us to turn back to His path when we act like the senseless horse or mule.

Following God's path is not uttering a one time prayer with our lips yet turning and walking back the same way we came. Following God requires a transformation. Now we have turned to walk a new road. Sometimes this means a radical reordering of our thought processes and priorities. Examining societies ways and habits, thinking with God's ways in mind and allowing Him to alter our course is the result of being filled with the Holy Spirit.

"Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect." Romans 12:2

Jesus is our Lord, our perfect guiding shepherd. Our own will, the course of our days and the entire path of our life is to be devoted to Him and lived in submission to Him. Sometimes certain days and weeks are made harder by ourselves. We set the course of our day or week and it didn't go as we had planned. If we submit our time to Jesus, and trust that His perfect way will shine through that day and what He wills will be done, we find so much more peace. We are living in peaceful submission and not a chaotic tug of war with ourselves. Often His guidance for our time is not in line with what we thought was best but by following Him we learn and grow. How many days and weeks not lived in submission to God's plan turn into months, years or a  lifetime?

“Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you? Luke 6:46

How often do we cry out "Lord, Lord help me..." but are unwilling to do what He asks? We surrender parts of ourselves to Christ, but have we surrendered all? We've given Him the parts of our life that are easy and convenient to follow, the parts that fit our schedule. We have to give Him all and surrender control to Him. Even the parts that require a radical reordering of our life. We have to be able to do the work He requires of us so that He can guide us on the path that is best for us.

"You say, "it's too hard to follow the Lord" and you turn up your noses at His commands." Malachi 1:13

God's ways seem at times to be hard, but the truth is they are only hard because often there are few truly walking His path and we don't have many around us cheering us on. But we are to please God, and not man. God's ways are perfect. They are just, righteous and lead to peace and righteousness.

"But the path of the just is as a shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day." Proverbs 4:18

The path God leads us on, the path of the just--- is His shining light and He guides us on it, molding us, loving us and gently leading our lives. He wants to know us and guide us intimately as a close friend and Father. We must trust Him that He knows best and pour out all of our cares, worries and needs big and small and trust that He is enough to take care of them all. 

A small child has to trust that their next meal will come from the hand of those that love them, they do not worry about where their clothing comes from and they assume that the details of their day will all be taken care of. This is the way God wants us to live as He guides on His pathway for our life. He wants us to lean on Him and count on Him like a little child. We can trust that with Jesus as Lord of our life, He will carry it all and take care of it all, we just have to trust, pray, and live in submission to His gentle care.

"Thus says the Lord: "Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls. But they said "we will not walk in it." Jeremiah 6:16

Prayer: "Lord, gently whisper the path I should walk. Turn my feet around and guide me. Help me to remember that all of my moments, hours, days and years are from you, and you are Lord of all, including my time and the details of my life. Help me to surrender to your ways and find true rest for my soul and know your peace." Amen.

"Plant the good seeds of righteousness that you will harvest a crop of my love. Plow up the hard ground of your hearts, for now is the time to seek the Lord, that He may come and shower righteousness upon you." Hosea 10:12