“Show me your ways, O LORD,
teach me your paths;
guide me in your truth and teach me,
for you are God my Savior
and my hope is in you all day long.”
Psalm 25:4-5
David’s prayer to God hundreds of years ago is the prayer of humble hearts today:
Show me … teach me … guide me
These words acknowledge a need for guidance and provision. They reflect a man who knows his need and knows only God can provide.
Show me your ways
The pronoun “your” suggests what we know to be true — there are indeed other ways than God’s ways. True for David and still very true for us. There are ways of the world, family traditions, and ways ingrained from old habits. There are ways prompted by legalism and ways prompted by liberalism. There are ways birthed from fear and ways birthed from freedom. But the way of a humble heart of faith is God’s way.
God, as you reveal YOUR way, I am ready to follow – even if it messes with MY way!
Teach me your paths
The word teach is reassuring. God doesn’t expect us to know everything. And as we ask Him to teach us, we acknowledge we don’t know everything. Pride resists learning, but humility welcomes it.
The choice of the word path confirms life is a journey of learning and growing in Him. While he may not reveal the entire life map, we can trust Him to reveal the next step to be taken.
We are reassured in knowing that traveling His path means He travels with us. His path is a path of righteousness (“He guides me in paths of righteousness..” Psalm 23:3) and it is a path of freedom (“I run in the path of your commands, for you have set my heart free.” Psalm 119:32).
Jesus, give me a teachable spirit. I want to travel this journey along your good path of righteousness and freedom.
Guide me in your truth
The world says truth is subjective: You have your truth — good for you, but I have mine. Yet by its very definition, truth is exclusive. If there is more than one truth, a lie has been introduced.
God is so good to us. He gently guides us into His truth. He is not harsh with us, but kind. As Paul wrote to the Romans, “God’s kindness leads you toward repentance.” As He reveals truth, may we be faithful to make course corrections. (“I have considered my ways and have turned my steps to your statues.” Psalm 119:59)
Holy Spirit, thank you for faithfully guiding me in the truth. Enable me to realign my ways to your truth. As You reveal, I will obey.
As God answers our Show Me / Teach Me / Guide Me prayer, may we bend our will to lean in to the truth He reveals. May we follow faithfully where He leads. When we take that first step down the right path, the joy of abiding in Him becomes so good and so great that what may have once felt like obligation melts away into desire and even delight. We find that the hope enveloping our hearts and minds during our morning quiet time, will sustain us for the day — indeed, we can declare with David, “my hope is in you all day long.”
Two weeks remain in our May study of Bible verses for
TIMES OF TROUBLE.
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