“I gain understanding from your precepts; therefore I hate every wrong path. Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.” (Psalm 119:104-105 NIV)
Years ago, I was hiking with some friends. I had taken responsibility of plotting out our course for our five-day trip using a map and a trail guide. One morning we headed out onto the trail toward our next stop—14 miles away. (This was back in a time when I thought backpacking was about how far you could go in a day!) We hiked a mile or so, but something seemed amiss. We were supposed to intersect with a road a mile or so out of camp, and we had yet to reach it. So I pulled out the map and trail guide. Everything, as far as we could tell, appeared right, so we kept on hiking. However, after another mile, the road still had not appeared. Realizing that somehow we had taken the wrong trail, we turned around and headed back to our campsite. Four miles into our hike, we found ourselves back where we had started and very frustrated.
Life can be like that. We think we know where we are going. We’ve read the directions or people tell us how to get where we want to go. It seems right, but then at some point we realize we’ve gone the wrong way. Sadly, though, we’ve already traveled a long way down that path. It may be the career choice that promised a lot of money. Or a marriage built on shallow interests or unreasonable expectations. Or a life built on things with no lasting value. And when we come to that realization, like on my backpacking trip, we can be filled with great frustration, and even despair, at where we have gone wrong.
When we returned to our campsite, we noticed high above us a trail that we had not seen previously. That turned out to be the trail we should have taken if we had only looked around and paid closer attention before we set out. But we had a long day ahead of us and were anxious to get going. We took the first trail that seemed right to us. And while we were hiking on the wrong trail, we convinced ourselves it was the right one. We looked at the map, read the trail guide, and identified the markers described as the ones we were seeing. But reality finally set in and we realized we had gone astray.
In life, there are many “guides” and “maps” advising and showing us what paths to take. And it is very easy to wind up on the wrong path and not know it until we are well along our way. Parents may be encouraging us to marry a certain person or to pursue a particular career. Friends may be telling us that the good life is found in alcohol and sex. Professors may be suggesting a life devotion to a certain area of study is what really matters. The guidance may seem right and we are anxious to get going. For a while, as we follow the maps they’ve given us, we’re convinced we’re going the right way. But then there will come a time when the realization sets in that the path we’ve chosen does not bring satisfaction or joy.
It is only when we are reading the Scriptures and rightly understanding them that we can choose and stay on the right paths in life. For the Word of God exposes dangers and provides the light to see clearly so we can distinguish the right paths from the wrong ones. And it gives us wisdom when we are receiving advice on which way to go, whether to listen to it or ignore it.
Today, before you decide on a certain path in life, let the Word of God guide you. It will light the way and bring clarity to decisions you are making. Believe me, there is nothing worse than heading out on a path convinced you are going in the right direction, only to realize later you were on the wrong path all along.
© Jim Musser 2014
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