Promised Guidance - The One Year Worship the King Devotional
Promised Guidance
Read: Proverbs 3:3-6
In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.
Proverbs 3:6
IN WORD The shortest distance between two points is a straight line. And usually when it comes to our lives, we want the shortest path. We don’t want to waste time on peripherals; we want to get to where we’re going as soon as we can.
God promises that we can. If we trust in Him with all our heart and refuse to rely on our own understanding—the conditions for this promise—then He will direct us, making our paths straight and getting us where we need to go. The believer who seeks His will in prayer, trusts His wisdom, and is obedient to His instructions will end up on exactly the right path. It’s guaranteed.
The problem with our understanding of this promise is that we and God often have different definitions of “the right path.” We are often diverted from our preferred route by a God who has other purposes for us. We find ourselves taking a roundabout way to where we want to go. It isn’t actually roundabout, as God has a purpose in it; but it seems that way to us. We get impatient.
God ignores our impatience. He is directing our steps whether or not we realize it. If we trust Him, ask His help, seek His wisdom, and acknowledge His authority over our lives, His direction is certain. We may feel awfully lost; God assures us we are not.
IN DEED Do you feel like you’ve gotten off course? You may have gotten off of your course, but that doesn’t mean you’ve gotten off of God’s. You may be like Joseph, wasting away in a pointless prison, not realizing that in the end it will have a point. You may be like David, fleeing from a rabid king, not realizing that faith is being built in you in remarkable ways.
Make sure you are being faithful to God and are trusting His direction. If you are, do not fear. The course you are on, regardless of what it looks like, is the straight path He has designed specifically for you.
Thy way, not mine, O Lord, however dark it be! Lead me by Thine own hand, choose out the path for me.
—HORATIUS BONAR
