As I
was reading Psalm 31 the other day I came across this verse: “Since you are my
rock and my fortress, for the sake of your name lead and guide me.” (Psalm
31:3) As I pondered that I realized there
is another psalm with a similar line in it.
“He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.” (Psalm
23:3)
So, we
have two separate passages that both indicate that God leads us because of his
name. That struck me a very
profound. God doesn’t lead us because we
ask for guidance, although that helps.
He doesn’t guide us because we’ve suddenly gotten lost and need help
finding our way again, although that happens as well. He guides us because it is in his very nature
to do so. Not guiding us would be a
complete violation of who God is; it would go against his very nature.
A few
weeks ago Renee and I took a small vacation down to the Hocking Hills area of
Ohio. It’s a beautiful area with lots of
natural gorges, waterfalls, and caves.
It also has a multitude of trails to hike. At the head of each trail is a sign warning
hikers to stay on the trail. A few
trails are paved so it’s pretty easy to stay on the trail. But most of them are leaf covered dirt paths
that aren’t always so clearly defined.
Occasionally, staying on the trail meant we had to climb over and around
rocks. When we hit those rocky parts
there were no guides to tell us exactly how to get over/around them; we had to
figure it out for ourselves.
We came
across a few park rangers out along the various trails, but for the most part,
the people we encountered were fellow hikers.
If we had found ourselves in a difficult situation we would have been dependent on our fellow hikers to help us out or go find a park ranger to help
us. Thankfully, God is better that a
park ranger. God is like the ranger who
greets you and the trail head and says “Good morning, let me lead and guide you
today.” You don’t have to ask for it;
you don’t have to need it; you just have to accept it.
Of course, there are a few
differences between a trail in a state park and the path God leads you on. A state park trail has a set length and is
generally free from very treacherous terrain (or there are warnings of
difficulty prior to heading out). If you
so choose, you don’t have to hike any trails with difficult terrain. You can stay on the “easy” or “slightly
rugged” trails and skip the “rugged” or “very rugged” trails. State park trails usually end at the same
place they begin. While hiking one of
these trails, it’s usually fairly easy to see the terrain several steps in
front of where you are.
God’s path is quite different. It’s virtually guaranteed that there will be
treacherous terrain. We don’t know how
long the journey will be, especially the treacherous sections. We definitely will not end at the same place
we began. And, we may not be able to see
more that a step or two ahead of where we currently are. However, while we walk this path we can be
confident that we have a guide who sees every step of the entire journey. He will carry us through the rough patches
and guide each of our steps. God does
not desire for us to wind up where we started; he wants to see us grow and
mature into the person we were meant to be.
Knowing that is a very comforting thought, especially during the rough
patches.
No comments:
Post a Comment