When we walk with the Lord, our prayer is: Show me your ways, Lord, teach me your paths. Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long. (Psalm 25:4-5)
And God response is: I instruct you in the way of wisdom and lead you along straight paths. (Proverbs 4:11). Yet, when life takes unexpected twists and turns, we start to doubt the things God has been teaching and showing us.
Recently I read this quote by Sinclair Ferguson: Be obedient even when you don’t know where obedience may lead you. It reminded me of the words from Isaiah 55:8 ~ “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord.
There was a time when I had to make a tough decision about my life, a life-altering decision. God was very present during that time and I felt Him leading me. Still, it wasn’t easy to make the necessary changes and sometimes I doubted if I had made the right choices. It wasn’t until several years later that I discovered that my decision had a huge impact, a life-giving impact, on someone else. God knew more than I did.
Psalm 138:8 says: The Lord will vindicate me; your love, Lord, endures forever — do not abandon the works of your hands. I had to look up that word “vindicate”.
Vin·di·cate – to clear someone of blame or suspicion; to show or prove to be right, reasonable or justified.
I believe that when I walk in obedience, I can trust God to take care of the parts of my life that I don’t understand. Do I always trust God? No, but I am trying more and more to accept the things I don’t understand as being in God’s control. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. (Proverbs 3:5-6)
In Psalm 23, God gives me an awesome picture of His promises for now and eternity.
The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk
through the darkest valley,[a]
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
Surely your goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
forever.
May He refresh your soul as you walk boldly, in trust, where He leads!
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