April 13, 2012

I instruct you in the way of wisdom
and lead you along straight paths.

Proverbs 4:11

Thoughts~

Paths have been symbols of my walk with the Lord for a long time.  When I see one in a photograph I am immediately drawn to it.  In real life, I tend to wander down paths as much as I am able to. Since many paths aren’t straight, I knew the words “straight paths” did not refer to a truly straight path by description, but, it must mean to stay on the “straight and narrow” path.

When I finally decided to search a little deeper using a Bible concordance and dictionary, I found I was partially correct but in addition, it means the right path in this particular verse. The opposite, of course is a wrong path.

Sometimes, in my past, God allowed me to wander off on my own path and I would stumble, falling flat on my face. It’s easy to see something glittery down a wrong path that captures our attention and before we know it, we are running in the opposite direction of where the Lord wants us to go. After my last major path accident, I have made it my life mission to know Proverbs inside and out, to seek wisdom and to stay focused.

But you know what?  The very minute I take my eyes, my heart, my mind, off the Lord, I can take that slippery path again. And as much as I want to blame the enemy of God for misleading me, it’s usually just my own self will that gets me in trouble.  Fortunately, God forgives us and sets our feet in the right direction as many times as He needs to . . . as long as we ask Him to forgive and help us.

Action~

Picture a path with markers along the way. These markers will have words such as righteousness, holiness, honesty, morality, wisdom, love, hope, purity. Now picture another path that has markers that say evil, lies, sin, filth, hate, foolishness, adultery.

I guess that’s all we need to figure out which path we need to take.

Pray~

You, God, are the Director of our paths.  Show us how to follow Your right paths all the days of our lives. Keep us from the wrong paths and fill us with wisdom so we know the difference.

Trusting the Lord,

Becky