He Will Direct Your Path

"In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths." 
Proverbs 3:6 (NKJV)

    Last night at Grace Point we wrapped up our study on "What to Do When You Don't Know What to Do." We've been looking at Proverbs 3:5-6 for several weeks, and last night was v.6. I shared how the first part of the passage was a command for us to make sure we are knowing the Lord in every aspect of our lives: "in ALL our ways..." We are prone to compartmentalize our lives and fail to acknowledge God in every area. But as the missionary Hudson Taylor said, "Christ is either Lord of all, or He is not Lord at all."
    The last part of the verse is a promise that as we draw near to God through the circumstances of our lives, He will "direct our paths." Some will read that and think it means He will tell us ahead of time what His plan is and how He will work it out- He will show us "the map" so we know where He is taking us in life. But that isn't really what the passage means, and it isn't the model we see in Scripture. What He is telling us that as we draw near to Him, He will BE our guide, He will lead us as we follow Him. He is the way and He is our "directions." He is telling us we will have a deeper relationship with Him as we follow Him.
    In Matthew 4 when Jesus calls His disciples, He calls them to follow Him. He doesn’t go into detail about what that looks like. He says “Follow Me and I will make you fishers of men.” (Matt 3:19) He doesn't say, “Ok, here’s the plan - I’m going to disciple You, invest in your lives for three years. We’re going to this village and that village, and we’re going to feed the hungry, heal the sick, raise the dead. And then at the end of three years I’m going to be killed and you all are going to carry on the work until they kill you also.” Do you think they would have followed had they known all of that? Maybe, maybe not. But the thing is, when Jesus called them, the only thing they had was Him - they didn’t know the plan, they didn’t know the direction, they didn’t know the end result - all they had was Him... and He was enough. They left their nets and their tax tables and they followed Him. And He guided their lives and directed their paths, and they knew Him at a more intimate level with each new day.
     I closed with a portion of a poem I had read sometime back:

He does not lead me year by year, Nor even day by day;
But step-by-step my path unfolds, My Lord directs my way.
Tomorrow’s plans I do not know; I only know this minute.
But He will say, “This is the way, By faith now walk in it.”
And I am glad that it is so, Today’s enough to bear;
And when tomorrow comes, His grace shall far exceed its care.
What need to worry then, or fret? The God who gave His Son,
Holds all the moments in His hand And gives them one-by-one.

   A pastor friend was visiting last night. He is between ministries, having stepped down from his previous church in some difficult circumstances. He stepped down in faith, at the time not having another pastoral ministry to go to, and not certain where the Lord was leading them. It has been about 17 weeks, and God has used he and his family to help care for some other family members. On Sunday he will be preaching in view of a call to another church, but he had this Wednesday off and was in our area so he stopped by our Bible study last night.
   After I ended the Bible study with the above poem, my friend shared a testimony. Several years ago he was at a camp with kids from his church and he went for a walk in the woods just to pray and spend time with the Lord. While he was walking, he came across a crumpled piece of paper and he picked it up and looked at it, on the paper were the words of a poem. He began to read it and as he did the Lord gave him a melody to the poem, and he began to sing it. Over the years God had used the poem/song to encourage him and remind him that the Lord was guiding him. As he shared the story, he said that the words on that paper was the very poem I shared with our family last night. God again was encouraging him as he heard those words.
    And God was encouraging me also. I don't usually do poems in my Bible studies, but that one seemed to fit. And the Lord knew my friend, who needed encouragement, would be there last night. He also knew I needed encouragement, so He used that experience to remind me the He is Lord, and He is "guiding my path" and He will provide as needs arise.
   Writing about this experience doesn't seem as effective as telling it in person, but I hope you are encouraged to know that God is with You and as You seek to know Him through every experience of your life, He will guide your path and He will provide for all that you need.