December 3, 2014
Psalm 25:4, 5
(All scripture is from the New King James Version unless otherwise indicated.)
How many people cry out in a crisis, “God, just show me what to do, and I will do it! ” They are in a quandary. There are two or more ways to go, but they don’t know what decision is the best choice. So they turn to the Almighty for help. After all, isn’t God supposed to be omniscient – that is, all-knowing? If that is the case, then He would know the best direction to go in any situation. And if that one calling on God for help would search the scriptures, he or she would find a supporting text in Psalm 25:4 and 5:
Show me Your ways, O LORD; teach me Your paths. Lead me in Your truth
and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; on You I wait all the day.
Verse 4 especially would be the heart-cry of one searching for help in a difficult situation: “Show me Your ways, O LORD; teach me Your paths.” But a chief rule in properly understanding the Bible is this: Don’t isolate just one verse and try to make it stand on its own! They say that you can make the scriptures say about anything you want them to say. And ‘cherry-picking’ just one verse on the subject is a great way to do that!
It is like the young man who was facing a serious crisis in his life. He cried out to God, “O, Lord, show me what I should do!” He had heard about a way God supposedly leads someone in a difficult situation – just close your eyes, open the Bible at random, and plop your finger down wherever it may land. And where it lands is the direction you are to take! So the young man did just that. And what he read where his finger rested was Matthew 27: 3 and 5: “Then Judas…departed, and went and hanged himself.” “Oh no!” the man exclaimed, “That can’t be it! I’ll try again. God, show me what to do!” So he closed his eyes, opened to another place, and read again where his finger was pointing – Luke 10:37: “Jesus said to him, ‘Go and do likewise.’ ” “No, no!” the stricken young man almost shouted. “This can’t be it either! God isn’t telling me to hang myself! Help me, Lord! I will do this one more time, so show me the answer!” Once more he tried, and with eyes squeezed shut, his finger landed on John 13:27: “Then Jesus said to him, ‘What you do, do quickly.’ ”
This is not the way to determine God’s will in a matter! The key to the Lord showing you the way and teaching you His path is in verse 5 of our scripture: “Lead me in Your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; on You I wait all the day.” There are three parts to this key:
• “Lead me in Your truth and teach me….” – Jesus Himself told us how to find the truth. First of all, He said in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” To begin to find the truth, you must start with Jesus Christ. You must receive Him as your Savior, repenting of your sins and turning to Him in trust that what He did on the cross – sacrificing His own perfect life for our sins – is the only way to be reconciled to God!
But then there is a second step – and again, Jesus told us what it is – John 17:17. He prayed for His followers before He went to the cross: “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.” You must get into the Word of God regularly – reading it, studying it, meditating upon it, even memorizing it! For the Christian, it must be a life-long endeavor! As Paul wrote in Colossians 3:16, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly….”
• “…for you are the God of my salvation….” – We covered this part above. Everyone must start with accepting Jesus Christ as his or her personal Savior! Anything less than this is to remain “…alienated [from God] and enemies in your mind by wicked works…” (Colossians 1:21). The only prayer God promises to hear from the lips of the unbeliever is the heart-cry of one lost in sin reaching for the hand of the Savior!
• “…on You I wait all the day.” – Now here is the ‘kicker’! Waiting on God does not mean impatiently walking back and forth, looking at your watch, and being perturbed that He is late showing up! It means that – as an obedient servant – you are waiting on your Lord, ready to obey His every command! Psalm 123:2 says,
Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their masters, as the eyes of
a maid to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the LORD our God….
He is the Master, we are His servants! And we are to wait upon our God – not just for an hour on Sunday morning, but – all day and every day!
This is the key to being led to the right decision in any situation. This isn’t easy, but God’s way is always right. And it sure beats the mess we can make of things when left to our own minds!