Where Are We Going? (psalm 23:3) - The One Year Book of Psalms
Where Are We Going? (Psalm 23:3)
Psalm 23
A psalm of David.
1The LORD is my shepherd;
I have everything I need.
2He lets me rest in green meadows;
he leads me beside peaceful streams.
3He renews my strength.
He guides me along right paths,
bringing honor to his name.
4Even when I walk
through the dark valley of death,
I will not be afraid,
for you are close beside me.
Your rod and your staff
protect and comfort me.
5You prepare a feast for me
in the presence of my enemies.
You welcome me as a guest,
anointing my head with oil.
My cup overflows with blessings.
6Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me
all the days of my life,
and I will live in the house of the LORD
forever.
In George Macdonald’s The Marquis of Lossie, a hunchback child moans constantly, “I dinna ken whaur I cam frae, and I dinna ken whaur I’m gaein’ till!” (I don’t know where I came from. I don’t know where I’m going to.”)
Omar Khayyam echoed the same sentiment when he said, “I come like water, and like wind I go! . . . I know not whither, willy-nilly blowing.”
The German philosopher Immanuel Kant devoted himself to resolving three questions: (1) What am I? (2) Whence came I? (3) Whither go I? But after a long life of research and analysis, the three questions remained unanswered for Kant.
Sadly, most people today don’t know where they are going either. They follow whatever seems right to them at the time. Some enjoy their journey and never question their final destination. Others change directions constantly but never find the “right paths.”
Fortunately, we do not need to wander in the wilderness. Instead, God gives direction to those who seek him, guiding us along right paths (verse 3).
As you travel physical paths today, take time to thank and praise God for guiding you spiritually and for helping you make wise decisions that bring “honor to his name” (verse 3).
All the way my Savior leads me;
What have I to ask beside?
Can I doubt his tender mercy,
Who through life has been my guide?
Heavenly peace, divinest comfort, here by faith in him to dwell,
For I know, whate’er befall me, Jesus doeth all things well.
FANNY J. CROSBY
Bible Networking
Read Proverbs 2:12-15; 5:3-6; and 10:9 and see the difference between right paths and crooked paths.
Notable Quotable
“Just as sheep will blindly, habitually, stupidly follow one another along the same little trails until they become ruts that erode into gigantic gullies, so we humans cling to the same habits that we have seen ruin other lives.”
PHILIP KELLER
