Do you have a life's verse? What I mean by that question: Have you chosen a particular verse of scripture to use as a sign post in your life?
Growing up in fundamentalist Christianity in the 1950's and 1960's, it was very common for church youth group leaders to encourage the young people to find a verse in the Bible that would keep them pointed in the right direction. I remember treating this request rather cavalierly. I even remember a period of time in my college years when I rather arrogantly quoted
1 Chronicles 26:18 from the King James version of the Bible as my life's verse.
18 At Parbar westward, four at the causeway, and two at Parbar.
Then something quite dramatic happened. During a prayer time with some close friends in the sound and lighting control room of the John and Charles Wesley Memorial Chapel/Auditorium, as we waited in silence before beginning to pray, I had a strong sense of God speaking to the deep recesses of my heart. Through my inner spiritual ears, I felt Him ask me if I was willing to give Him honor in every aspect of my life. Without hesitation I answered, "Yes!"
In thinking about that experience over the next few days, I felt drawn to a very familiar passage of scripture in Proverbs 3:5-6.
5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; 6 in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.
Now you may think that a commitment to follow that verse might prove difficult. I would have to respond, however, that through the passage of time, God has always made it easy for me to acknowledge Him as the source of everything good or worthy in me. At the same time, by way of contrast, I have had an equally easy time acknowledging that everything bad or unworthy in me is a product of my own sin, my own disobedience.
Time after time, God has opened up amazing doors of opportunity to me. Every time I have stepped through one of those open doors, I have done so keenly aware that the opportunity had come to me as a gift from God. In every case, when the time came to name the source of my good fortune, I have quickly, and without any hesitation, acknowledged that God is the One who has provided the blessing.
I so very much wish I could tell you that I have always been perfectly obedient to God's leading. Sadly, I have, far too often, failed to bend my will to His. Nevertheless, whenever I have stayed on the straight pathway He has laid out before me, I have always found Him a ready companion. Even in times of significant trials, He has always supported my passage, through the Presence of the blessed Holy Spirit.
So, dear ones, I encourage you to stay on the straight pathway that God stretches out before you. Trust in God with all your heart. Accept the covering of the precious blood of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. In all your ways acknowledge God as the source of all things good. Do so, and you will surely find that God will, indeed, make your pathway straight. He will certainly direct your path. Not just today or tomorrow, but for all the days of your life.
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