The Right Path
"Lead me in the right path, O LORD, or my enemies will conquer me. Make your way plain for me to follow." Psalm 5:8
Do you ever question yourself whether or not the path you are taking is led by the LORD, or one you've chosen? When I was young in the LORD, I would pray for God's guidance and proceed to step forward on the path that seemed right--without hearing God's answer. After all, I'd committed my way to him, so where I was going was correct, right?
"Commit everything you do to the LORD. Trust him, and he will help you." Psalm 37:5
I can tell you from experience, the enemy often had a field day with the pits of miry clay he planted in that path I had chosen. Choking on that suck-y clay made me look back at the beginning of the path and call out to God.
Why? Why is my enemy overwhelming me?
In his goodness, God pointed out my motivation.
This is a path you have chosen. You asked for my guidance, then closed your ears and forged ahead because You wanted Your way, not mine.
Ouch. In every instance, God was right about my motivation. I was asking him to co-sign what I wanted to do, not asking him what he wanted me to do. There's a qualifying statement in the middle of verse 5--Trust him. If I trust God, I wait for him to speak.
Have you ever given your child instructions and have him or her run off before you're finished speaking? Sometimes they got it right, but--more often than not--they missed the mark because a crucial part of the instruction wasn't heard.
We can be like that with our Heavenly Father.
"Be still in the presence of the LORD, and wait patiently for him to act." Psalm 37:7a
Yes, we need to be patient, not impulsive. We need to obey the direction to be still in his presence. After all, this meeting ground with him is holy. When we take the time to worship and adore him before we make our needs known to him, we hear his answers more readily. We don't miss a phrase or a nuance in scripture that gives us the answer we were looking for.
"...trust him, and he will help you." Psalm 37:5
Commit...trust...be still...wait patiently. This is our heart's preparation for seeing the plain path God wants us to follow. Only our Abba Father knows whether we need an immediate answer or one that seems delayed. But the waiting honors him. And, it builds our confidence in him.
Trust him, and he will help you.
by Marilyn Allison