He will make straight your paths

21Sep
Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
and do not rely on your own insight.
In all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make straight your paths.
-Proverbs 3:1-6


These passages from Proverbs remind me that loyalty, faithfulness, and trust in the Lord’s teachings should be written on the tablet of your heart. We are assured that if we only rely on God, and not our own insight, God will “make straight your paths.” Now I am not quite sure what a straight path may look like, but I suspect it is different for each of us. In fact God’s path may be straight, but I’m guessing that some of the twists and turns I take without consulting God lend my path a good bit of crookedness. I don’t think a straight path means we will never have trouble, or sadness, or strife. I do think it means that as we travel our own journeys we should trust in the Lord, and that even where the journey may not be one we want to take, or even to appear straight at all, God’s light will guide us. 


But what about doubt. It is indeed so hard to trust when we hold onto doubt. Is there doubt in my soul? I certainly find doubt creeping into the dark corners of my mind. Like a seed threatening to grow inside me, doubt tries to convince me that my trust is not on a firm foundation. It is at these times that I need to return to God’s word, God’s promises to eradicate the seeds from my heart. 


I do think that doubt and faith will always go together. I suspect there may be some element of doubt in each of us. We are such factual creatures. “Show me the proof!” we want to say. And yet the proof is all around us. We can see it in this beautiful created world, we can see it when we gaze at the stars on a clear night, and most of all we can see it when we truly see into the eyes of the other. Doubt may sometimes be with us but trusting in the Lord with all our heart can help calm those seeds so the Lord may lead us on His true path for each of us.


Musical Reflection - I Know Nothing of Tomorrow - St. Augustine's Singers 1978


God you know the hearts of each of us.

We pray for faith to trust your Word as it is written in our heart.

So that our journey may follow the path you have chosen for us, 

both in this life and the next.

In Jesus name we pray. Amen.

FaithDoubt

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