On the path .. how do you deal with opposition from within? There’s the cry to yield to temptation. To admit defeat to laziness. To confess the tendency to be apathetic. To concede a desire to avoid hardship.
On the path .. how you cope with the opposition from without? Work pressures, home challenges, financial issues, friendship strains all conspire at some point to trigger the urge to retaliate, to react and lash out.
On the path … how do you take the next step in the fog of indecision and uncertainty? So much suggesting this way. So much suggesting that way. So much suggesting staying still. So much pushing for quick change.
Whichever path is taken is still a path of righteousness. Jesus walks with us and as He walks and talks with us, so we grow to trust and depend on Him more. Even in our failings and mis-steps, these are never failures, as He is willing to stoop and lift us up and set us on the path again. One step at a time. Knowing not where the path may lead, but being assured that He desires to lead us on these paths of righteousness for His name.
As we walk on the paths … the enemy that is the inner-me is crushed in humility. Self dies as Christ arises.
As we walk on the paths .. the enemy out of me is defeated by good overcoming evil and the light overwhelming the dark. Wisdom guards the tongue and allows to act not in haste, but in measured sensitivity to the promptings of the Great One that lives within.
As we walk on the paths … the way ahead clears in the light of the revelation of the Son of God. That vision captivates the heart and motivates movement in due season and rest and recuperation as He leads.
It is not a pain-free journey, but it is a glorious one. It will not involve one path, there may be others involved. In each one, as long as Jesus guides us we learn to meet crisis as an opportunity, and every victory reflected for His glory.
All this as we continue to walk on the paths of righteousness …
For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
C. L. J. Dryden
Life With CD 