Proverbs 3:5-6. 5Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. 6In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.
The result of trusting God and knowing him in all we do is that we will have a straight path, or a clearly marked path. This is a promise of God’s guidance, but also much more. His providence.
My wife and I spent three weeks in the beautiful Lakes District of northern England this past Summer. While there we decided to do some hiking on the various trails around the lakes and up the mountains. On our first two hikes we found our way easily using the directions and maps on the website. But on our third attempted hike we simply could not find our way. We started, retreated, and re-started unable to interpret the directions or even find our starting point. Just when we were about to give up and head back to the bus stop, along came a lovely English family that allowed us to follow them for the next four hours as we hiked up Castle Crag together. They made our path straight. Clear. Not easy. But clear. The hike up the mountain was still hard. Long. Steep. Slippery. Four out of five of us fell down at some point on the hike. But we made it to the top and we made some new friends along the way.
Trusting God can be a lot like us trusting that nice family in England. There is a path, even though sometimes we can’t see it. There is a destination, even though sometimes we are too discouraged to even start the journey. And there is a guide. That family that we followed, they had just hiked up Castle Crag the day before. They knew the way because they had already done the hike (and they knew how to read the map).
When we trust Christ we are trusting that he knows the way. He can read the map and he has already hiked the trail. In fact, he IS the trail. He is the way, the truth, and the life. You see Jesus didn’t just show us how to make our path straight, how to live a good life, how to find happiness and bliss in the here and now. Christ is no self-help guru. He IS our straight path. Union with Christ is how God made our path to Heaven free from all obstacles. Trusting in Jesus’ life lived for you and death died for you is what places you on the trail. Trusting in your shared life with Christ, and death died with Christ is what guides you to the end. Sharing his journey up the hill to Calvary. Carrying his cross. Knowing that he has blazed the trail for us and knowing where it leads, to the mountain top of his presence.
You: In what ways are you blazing your own trail through life apart from Christ’s path?
You in Christ: What is the difference between Jesus showing us the right path and Jesus BEING the right path?
Christ in you: Where do you need the guidance of Christ today? The guidance of the cross?
Pray: Father, the path to you is not my own, it is your son, Jesus. Keep me on the path of faith in Christ today. Amen.
To Live is Christ 