“The Lord is my Shepherd . . He guides me in paths of righteousness.” Psalm 23:3 NIV
“The path you think ‘feels right’ may be all wrong, if God is not alongside you.”
My thoughts today are about “the right path.”
Life is not all that difficult to predict where you will end up. Here’s a good question to ask yourself occasionally, “When I get where I’m going, where will I be?” Just look far enough down the road you are currently traveling and that will tell you and others your destination, whether or not that’s where you planned. If you want to get to a different place, you must travel the path that best takes you there. Jesus made that simple for you. He boldly said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” John 14:6 NLT. Following His lead, you will always be on the right path to a right place.
There are a surprising number of people that later in life find themselves wondering, “How did I ever get here?” Don’t be one of them; that’s tragic and sad. People find themselves where marriage vows were compromised; trust was broken; promises were meaningless; shame was unbearable; reputations were ruined, and opportunities were lost forever. The answer to “how and why” is more obvious than they imagine. They chose the wrong path, and too many were simply following their friends, without discretion. Never go a little ways in a direction you would not be willing to go all the way. There is a danger of your not getting turned around in time. Consider Psalm 1:1-3 NIV. A wrong path can never bring you to the right place. Direction is strictly related to destination!
The New Living Translation expresses today’s verse this way; “He guides me along right paths, bringing honor to his Name.” The right path is the one the Shepherd chooses for you and is always and absolutely consistent with His own character and honor. When you take your own excursions and side trips along the way, you will neither arrive where God awaits you, nor where you were expecting that to be. This good and Godly advice: “Stay on the path that the Lord your God has commanded you to follow. Then you will live long and prosperous lives . .” Deuteronomy 5:32-33 NLT.
Popular culture tries to sell the naïve philosophy that to be happy, I must be free to do what is “right for me.” That may be the biggest mistake you would ever make. Often, the path you think “feels right” may be all wrong, taking you to a wrong place different from who you want to be and where you need to go. There was a time in the history of Israel that God describes this way, “In those days . . everyone did as he saw fit . . the way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but the one who heeds counsel is wise.” Judges 17:6 NIV/Proverbs 12:15 NKJV. That is a dangerous path to take.
“The paths of the Lord are true and right, and righteous people live by walking in them. But sinners stumble and fall along the way.” Hosea 14:9 NLT. Both the promise and the standard that accompanies the right path is this: “That it may always go well with you . . because you will be doing what is good and right in the eyes of the Lord your God.” Deuteronomy 12:28 NIV. (Read Proverbs 2, NIV, especially noting vs. 9-12).
My prayer for you today is: listen carefully and well and you will know where God is leading.