Thursday, February 15, 2018
O Lord,
I give my life to you. I trust in you,
my God! Do not let me be disgraced, or
let my enemies rejoice in my defeat. No
one who trusts in you will ever be disgraced, but disgrace comes to those who
try to deceive others. Show me the right
path, O Lord; point out the road for me to follow. Lead me by your truth and teach me, for you
are the God who saves me. All day long I
put my hope in you. Remember, O Lord,
your compassion and unfailing love, which you have shown from long ages past. Do not remember the rebellious sins of my
youth. Remember me in the light of your
unfailing love, for you are merciful, O Lord. The Lord is good and does what is
right; he shows the proper path to those who go astray. He leads the humble in doing right, teaching
them his way. The Lord leads
with unfailing love and faithfulness all who keep his covenant and obey his
demands. Psalm 25:1-10(NLT)
North Carolina is
full of some of God’s really beautiful places to enjoy. A friend recently shared with a group of
preachers how his family had enjoyed a day off hiking the mountain trails at
Hanging Rock. As they left the parking
lot and began the trail towards the mountain top, my friend took note of the
fact that, while the destination was high and to the left of where they
started, the wooded pathway took them down and to the right. Like most mountain experiences, it was going
to be a long, winding pathway to the top!
And…most importantly…the trees, full of leaves, screened their view of
the goal. They had to trust the path to
take them there…it was a faith walk!
David’s Psalm was
much like my friend’s experience; he prayed for the LORD to show him the right
path and help him keep from being defeated or disgraced in life. David wrote that he was placing his life’s
hope in God all day long; he understood that those who trust in the
LORD are led to a fulfilled covenant walk, the mountain top of joy.
Now, I have felt
lost in the woods before; it’s not a lovely feeling! I learned that you should always take care to
see where you’ve travelled, so you can remember how to get back to safety. (Incidentally, there’s a good application for
that when you leave your car in long numbered rows of a parking lot down at
WalMart. It’s rather embarrassing to
walk through the lot using the panic button on your key trying to locate your car. You look like a doe in the headlights
searching, here car; here car!)
This Lenten preparation walk of 40 days is filled with mountain trails…as
is life in general. In seasons of growth
you just have to trust the path, because you can hardly see past the
foliage.
Winter hardly looks
like a blessing sometimes; bare trees, and bleak, gray skies seem to leave me
cold and empty. It looks a little like
death. Indeed, suicide rates go up in
bleak mid-winter. But, as with Lent,
this is a time for looking through to the other side…to the promise of God
which will be fulfilled. It is a time
for noticing all of last year’s green growth lying brown and decayed on the
ground, and remembering the pathway is for moving forward, ever forward.
For You Today
If you are in a season of winter in
life, cold, wondering, anguished over losses, perhaps despairing of ever seeing
life grow green again…remember the path, look up; the destination hasn’t moved.
You chew on that as you hit the Rocky
Road; have a blessed day.
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