Show me your ways, Lord, teach me your paths. Guide me in your truth and teach me. (Ps. 25:4–5)
I enjoy walking a new path, wondering where it leads and what I might see along the way. Sometimes it offers up a nice surprise, like the one taken this week that led to a patch of big, juicy blackberries. However, not all paths offer up the best kind of surprises. My sister was climbing an unfamiliar path during a mission trip and lost her footing at the rim of a steep cliff. If not for a companion, she would have fallen over the edge.
Our lives are comprised of paths. Some are easy to walk with no major challenges, but there are very hard, even dangerous, ones as well. Growing up in western New York, we would often visit Letchworth State Park, known for its deep gorges. With sixty-six miles of hiking trails, the more precarious ones running along the gorge have warning signs as well, not to venture off the path. Friends lost a son when he hiked off the marked trail.
One night, while serving in Honduras, my husband drove a mother and her daughter, who had died at the hospital, back to their village. As he carried the child down the footpath, the only thing that kept his feet on the trail was a single oil lamp in one of the windows. God’s Word is that lamp, teaching us, guiding us, and showing us the way.
Allow God’s Word to guide and teach you as you walk your paths.
Marcy Burke enjoys living in Alabama, being a retired pastor’s wife, former missionary, and worship leader. She enjoys playing the piano and taking long walks with her husband, Larry.
© 2023 Wesleyan Publishing House. Reprinted from Light from the Word. Used by permission. Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.
