God’s Ways

The amazing Psalm 119 uses about twelve different words for the Word of God. Like a blazing diamond, God’s word is truly multi-faceted. It is Torah (verse 1); it is testimony (verse 2) and here, in verse three, it is the record of God’s ‘ways’. If you follow His ways, you’ll do no wrong.

The Hebrew word translated ‘way’ can mean many things; it can mean a road, the direction you take, your way of life, your journey. And ‘following his way’ can mean several things: going the way He is taking at this particular moment. So, following His way means following Him. Or, it can mean following the path that He has planned for us – fulfilling His purposes for our individual lives. Or, it can mean making sure that all that we think, say and do conforms to what He has revealed in the Scriptures. In fact, it always means all three because, if I follow him, I will be following the path He has planned for me, and it will always conform to the pattern of life revealed in the Bible.

So, there’s a choice to be made: do I go His way, or mine? Proverbs 14:12 says, ‘There is a way that appears to be right but, in the end, it leads to death’. It isn’t just when someone is considering whether to begin a new life with Jesus that this choice has to be made. It has to be made every waking moment of our lives. Am I going to stay walking with Him? Am I going to stick to the path He’s planned for me? Does what I’m thinking and doing conform to Scripture? If the answer to all three is ‘Yes!’, then I’m following His way.

When you’re walking in unfamiliar country, like in the mountains that I love, you need three things to be totally sure of going the right way: a reliable guide; a good map, and a compass. Your Heavenly Father is your Guide; His revealed purpose for your life is your map, and His truth set out in the Scriptures is your compass. Follow these and you’ll ‘do no wrong’. But, I guess, like me, everyone thinks, “I can manage, thank you”’, and we set out on the way ‘that appears to be right’. Let’s stick with the Guide, the map and the compass.

Prayer: Father, thank You that You have a purpose and a destiny for my life; thank You that You promise to lead me faithfully day by day as I seek to fulfil that purpose. And thank You that you have given me a reliable compass to steer by in the Scriptures. Today, I commit myself to follow You, to seek to fulfil Your purpose for this time, and to conform every part of my life to Your Word. Amen.