What a mess I’ve made of things! My big mouth has gotten me in trouble again and my eye rolling and huffy sighs have fanned into flame a quarrel with my loved one. I have made a poor choice and now need to know how to “back up my truck” and start on the right path instead.
I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go; I will counsel you with My eye upon you…he who trusts in the LORD, lovingkindness shall surround him. Psalm 32:8, 10
When I came to this promise in Psalm 32, I was struck by the personal nature of God’s word to the reader The beginning of the Psalm declares the misery of one who is living with sin and the blessed relief when it is confessed to God and forgiven. Then, God goes on to promise to give me instruction and tells me that if I trust Him by following His teaching I will be watched over by Him and surrounded by His mercy (another word for “lovingkindness”). Wow. How amazing is that?!
When I commit sin, I am definitely not going in the way God wants me to. So the question arises: how can I know my sin? Well, the Scripture is plain. When I measure myself against the 10 Commandments- not just the bare words but their implications- I am sobered and grieved at how far short of God’s holiness I fall. “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23 “There is none righteous, no not one!” Romans 3:10. And right now, I know my behavior has fallen way short of the way a Jesus-follower should behave. So what’s a girl to do?! Ah, listen! Hear the wonderful words from God’s lips to your heart:
“I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go.”
God’s guidance is no mystery that only special people get from God. Anyone who needs His direction can find it. “Oh, yes,” you say, “that’s easy for you to say, but I haven’t heard God’s voice. I don’t know what He wants me to do.”
Really? Have you made a regular habit of reading the Bible? If not, why not? When you have, what sorts of things do you find there? Hmm. Well, there is a lot about what God expects of those who follow Him, and there is plenty about not partaking in the sinful things the world does.
Check out Galatians 5: 14-21. The whole Law is summed up in loving God and your fellow man. Then, the writer goes on to say, “the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealously, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing and things like these…”
This isn’t an isolated passage. Scripture abounds in clear instruction on how to live in harmony with others and gives clear definition of sin. For instance, Philippians 2:3 says “do nothing from selfish ness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves…” THERE IT IS. SIN DEFINED AND THE RIGHT COURSE POINTED OUT. How much clearer can God’s Word to me be?
I ask again, have you been reading your Bible? If you have, it is there that you will hear God’s instruction and see the way you should go. Enjoy His loving care.
Question: Will you listen to God’s instruction by reading the Bible regularly? Will you bask in the comfort of His loving, kind gaze upon you as you follow Him?