Jeremiah 6:16, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. But you said, we will not walk in it.'”
One of my favorite times of day is the mornings. The earlier the better! The Lord has blessed me with an internship at Vision of Hope and along with that an added blessing of an early morning walk with the ladies around Faith’s beautiful pond!
One of these mornings I was a bit sore and thought it would be so much more comfortable to go off the path a little and walk in the soft grass and I reasoned it would be so much easier on my back and feet. Now one of our policies is to stay on the sidewalks so as not to tread down the grass and if I went off the path I would be breaking policy and willingly doing it in front of these ladies of whom I am to be an example to.
But surely it would be understandable that for my comfort I could justify breaking or bending the rules just for a moment, one walk, one morning. As I debated what I wanted to do and what was the right or best thing to do, God showed me this;
Proverbs 3:5, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.”
He has given me a path cut perfectly for my walk. Now the path itself isn’t perfect, it has cracks and is uneven in some places. It is marked up by others in some places and because of the wonderful geese He has created there are places spotted with (well you know). Just like my every day journey with the Lord as a sinner in a sin cursed world.
Now to go off His path even for a bit of ease or comfort will gradually take me on a walk towards a pond, which from a distance is beautiful. But the closer you get it starts to have a smell, nothing you would want to bottle. It also has really big frogs, not to mention seaweed and muck, and I am not sure what the green stuff is but it floats just under the surface.
How easy it would be to choose my own comfort and head off the path? How easy would it be for the ladies to see me and follow along? How easy would it be get too close to that pond and just fall in?
Praise be to God for His path made, chosen and perfected not only for me but all who know Him! And may we find it and stay on it no matter how uncomfortable, hard, marred up, or messed up that path may be, it is perfectly designed for our journey with and to Him.
Psalm 23:3 says, “He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His names sake.”
So I stayed on the path that morning and am trying hard with His strength and grace to stay on it every day, not only because it is what is best for me, but to be an example to others and to bring Him honor.
Psalm 25:4-5, “Show me Your ways, O Lord, teach me your paths; guide me in Your truth and teach me, for You are my God my Savior, and my hope is in You all day long.”
This blog was written by Julie McKay. You can learn more about Julie by reading her testimony, “Saved to Sin No More.”