...that Your way may be known on the earth, Your saving power among all nations. Let the peoples praise you, O God. Let all the peoples praise you! (Verses 2-3)
He is your Teacher. He will not continue to hide from you, but you will see your Teacher with your own eyes. If you go the wrong way -- to the right or to the left -- you will hear a voice from behind you saying, "This is the right way. You should go this way." Isaiah 30
"I am the Way, the Truth and the Life." Jesus (John 14)
I was young. That is my excuse every time I am reminded of the story of getting lost on my way home from school. Married only a few months, I was driving our hot little red Mustang Mach 1 to Denton, Texas, to finish my last year of college. I must admit I still am easily turned around. GPS has saved my day on many occasions. But this particular day I turned in the completely opposite direction from home and blasted down the highway going the wrong way. Now you might ask why I didn't think sooner about the passing landscape not being the same, but it's Texas. Prairie is prairie to me. I was supposed to be heading toward Grapevine, so imagine my surprise when an hour into my drive I was in McKinney. Hmm. That didn't sound right. My awakening a bit too late. So, I turned my horse around and went galloping back toward Grapevine, now over an hour late for home. Two steps forward and three steps back. Argh!
Bill was worried. Wife and car disappeared over the horizon hours before and he was ready for dinner. Since there were no cell phones way back then, my young husband just waited. When I pulled into the parking lot of our apartments, I was embarrassed. I toyed with the idea of not telling Bill how stupid I'd been. He would've believed I had to stay late for class. Going the wrong way, even when the landscape should've been an obvious giveaway, is just not smart.
I wish I could say I'd never gone awry in my spiritual life. Alas, I cannot. Barreled down life in the completely opposite direction just to see what was the other way. Where this highway takes me. Warning signs posted everywhere. Dead end street. Warning: No Shoulder Ahead. Construction zone. I have a recurring dream that I drive right into the ocean. Why would we go east when we should go west? Why don't we stop for the map or ask the gas station attendant for directions? Maybe there are a plethora reasons, but they all come back to this. We have lost our way. Or in our pride we take a way we know is dangerous -- the way that seems right to us even though it is wrong. Then, like Thelma and Louise, we plunge over a cliff rather than turn around and face the music.
The Way has manifested for us, though. We have seen our Teacher. He is not hiding. His pupils know His voice. When He says, "No, not that way," we stop and listen. I have argued before with my Teacher. Trotted on down the path I was on. Not a good idea. He knows my way, too. My Map for the future and the present belongs to the One who drew it. Very silly of me to go forward without asking for directions. Then I get lost and have to turn around, recover the lost time, deal with the shame of my ignorance and do the two steps forward thing until I am safely on the correct road again. Some paths we Christians already know are right. There is no guessing. Some days, though, we need personal guidance for whether we turn left or right. Jesus gave us the Holy Spirit as a guide. Christ tells the Holy Spirit what to tell us. But when the Spirit of Truth comes, He will lead you into all truth. He will not speak His own words, but He will speak only what He hears....He will take what I say and tell it to you. John 16
This roadmap is available to everyone in every nation. Our God wants His saving power--His Way--
to be known everywhere so even nations won't stumble around fumbling for the path. To live one's entire life going nowhere is the saddest life of all. We who know our Father have our steps ordered by Him in great purpose even if we are not kings and presidents, great singers or poets, or even when the mundane seems to overpower the marvelous. That the Spirit of God lives in us to tell us the personal will of the Way, the Truth and the Life should thrill our every waking moment and cause us to listen with the utmost care to the whispers of Jesus to our path.
He is your Teacher. He will not continue to hide from you, but you will see your Teacher with your own eyes. If you go the wrong way -- to the right or to the left -- you will hear a voice from behind you saying, "This is the right way. You should go this way." Isaiah 30
"I am the Way, the Truth and the Life." Jesus (John 14)
I was young. That is my excuse every time I am reminded of the story of getting lost on my way home from school. Married only a few months, I was driving our hot little red Mustang Mach 1 to Denton, Texas, to finish my last year of college. I must admit I still am easily turned around. GPS has saved my day on many occasions. But this particular day I turned in the completely opposite direction from home and blasted down the highway going the wrong way. Now you might ask why I didn't think sooner about the passing landscape not being the same, but it's Texas. Prairie is prairie to me. I was supposed to be heading toward Grapevine, so imagine my surprise when an hour into my drive I was in McKinney. Hmm. That didn't sound right. My awakening a bit too late. So, I turned my horse around and went galloping back toward Grapevine, now over an hour late for home. Two steps forward and three steps back. Argh!
Bill was worried. Wife and car disappeared over the horizon hours before and he was ready for dinner. Since there were no cell phones way back then, my young husband just waited. When I pulled into the parking lot of our apartments, I was embarrassed. I toyed with the idea of not telling Bill how stupid I'd been. He would've believed I had to stay late for class. Going the wrong way, even when the landscape should've been an obvious giveaway, is just not smart.
I wish I could say I'd never gone awry in my spiritual life. Alas, I cannot. Barreled down life in the completely opposite direction just to see what was the other way. Where this highway takes me. Warning signs posted everywhere. Dead end street. Warning: No Shoulder Ahead. Construction zone. I have a recurring dream that I drive right into the ocean. Why would we go east when we should go west? Why don't we stop for the map or ask the gas station attendant for directions? Maybe there are a plethora reasons, but they all come back to this. We have lost our way. Or in our pride we take a way we know is dangerous -- the way that seems right to us even though it is wrong. Then, like Thelma and Louise, we plunge over a cliff rather than turn around and face the music.
The Way has manifested for us, though. We have seen our Teacher. He is not hiding. His pupils know His voice. When He says, "No, not that way," we stop and listen. I have argued before with my Teacher. Trotted on down the path I was on. Not a good idea. He knows my way, too. My Map for the future and the present belongs to the One who drew it. Very silly of me to go forward without asking for directions. Then I get lost and have to turn around, recover the lost time, deal with the shame of my ignorance and do the two steps forward thing until I am safely on the correct road again. Some paths we Christians already know are right. There is no guessing. Some days, though, we need personal guidance for whether we turn left or right. Jesus gave us the Holy Spirit as a guide. Christ tells the Holy Spirit what to tell us. But when the Spirit of Truth comes, He will lead you into all truth. He will not speak His own words, but He will speak only what He hears....He will take what I say and tell it to you. John 16
This roadmap is available to everyone in every nation. Our God wants His saving power--His Way--
to be known everywhere so even nations won't stumble around fumbling for the path. To live one's entire life going nowhere is the saddest life of all. We who know our Father have our steps ordered by Him in great purpose even if we are not kings and presidents, great singers or poets, or even when the mundane seems to overpower the marvelous. That the Spirit of God lives in us to tell us the personal will of the Way, the Truth and the Life should thrill our every waking moment and cause us to listen with the utmost care to the whispers of Jesus to our path.
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