Teach Me Your Paths
Psalm 25:4,5:
4 Make me to know your ways, O LORD;
teach me your paths.
5 Lead me in your truth and teach me,
for you are the God of my salvation;
for you I wait all the day long.
This is the desire of all who are in Christ. We know our past. We know the ways in which we used to walk…the paths our feet so easily trod. We know the temptation to walk those paths again. We know how easy it would be.
This is why we need the grace of God. We need him to teach us his ways. Psalm 86:11:
11 Teach me your way, O LORD,
that I may walk in your truth;
unite my heart to fear your name.
The prayer of the psalmist here is for an undivided heart. How prone our hearts are to wander. They are pulled in myriad directions each and every day…each and every moment. This is why we must keep them (our hearts) with all vigilance, because from them flow the springs of life (Proverbs 4:23).
Part of that keeping is knowing God’s Word and meditating upon it. We desperately need to know his Holy Word. We need God to work…to teach…to seal…to unite our hearts to fear his name. That comes through the work of the Spirit sealing the Word in our hearts. Because the temptation to wander is strong, but the Word of God is our sword of the Spirit (Ephesians 6:17), our weapon against the enemy.
Consider our Lord when he was tempted. How did he respond? By the Word of God (see Matthew 4:1-11). He knew the Word. He knows that the paths of God are steadfast love and faithfulness (Psalm 25:10). His heart is fully aligned with truth, with the way of righteousness. May the Spirit of God work that same trust, that same heart in us who are so often prone to wander. May he work it in us by leading us and teaching us the Truth. And may we love the Truth with all that we are.